Abstract
It is conventionally accepted that the first suicide bomb was used in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. In more recent times, suicide bombing has become an increasingly used technique. Israel has seen regular attacks and most recently Iraq and Afghanistan have seen a large number of incidents. Overall, a recent estimate puts the death toll from this form of attack at 1840 people since 1983. It would appear that the attractions of the suicide bomb to the terrorist are the devastating nature of the injuries which result and the possibility of achieving dramatic religious martyrdom. It is no coincidence that the suicide bomb is a weapon of the religiously motivated terrorist and has played little role in the repertoire of those with secular or purely political aims.
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Page, P.R.J., Greaves, I. (2011). Suicide Bombs. In: Brooks, A., Clasper, J., Midwinter, M., Hodgetts, T., Mahoney, P. (eds) Ryan's Ballistic Trauma. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-124-8_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84882-124-8_9
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