Recent events provide evidence that railway targets continue to be extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The high concentration of individuals in a relatively limited area provides an opportunity for high casualties, a goal among some terrorist organizations – especially among many Islamic fundamentalist groups, such as Al-Qaeda. While utilizing explosive devices has been the most frequently employed tactic employed in attacks against railway targets, there are numerous other means that may be employed in the future, including the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). As trains tend to enter densely populated areas, the use of a WMD has the potential to result in catastrophic damage. In comparison to airline security, the limited measures utilized in maintaining security for railway targets provides an opportunity for terrorists to maximize the impact of an attack while minimizing the risk of achieving operational goals.
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Notes
- 1.
Rand Worldwide Terrorism Incident Database. http://www.rand.org/ise/projects/terrorismdatabase/
- 2.
- 3.
Jordán, 2006
- 4.
Gutiérrez de Ceballos, Turégano-Fuentes, Perez-Diaz, Sanz-Sánchez, Martin-Llorente & Guerrero-Sanz, 2004.
- 5.
BBC News, (2004b).
- 6.
Olmeda, 2005.
- 7.
Daly, 2005.
- 8.
BBC News, 2008a; BBC News, 2005.
- 9.
Daly, 2005.
- 10.
Haahr, 2006.
- 11.
BBC News, 2004b
- 12.
Haahr, 2006.
- 13.
ibid.
- 14.
Lago & Montero, 2006.
- 15.
Sinkkonen, 2008.
- 16.
Riley, 2004.
- 17.
BBC News, 2001c.
- 18.
Economist (2001, August 16).
- 19.
BBC News, 2001b, July 3, Analysis: Unita’s changing tactics.
- 20.
Angola Peace Monitor (2001, September 5), Issue 12, vol. 7.
- 21.
Angola Peace Monitor (2001, September 5), Issue 12, vol. 7.
- 22.
Economist A third force May 11th 2000 | LUANDA From The Economist print edition http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=S%26%29%28%2C%2BRQ%5B%2B%0A.
- 23.
Angola Peace Monitor (2001, September 5), Issue 12, vol. 7.
- 24.
Angola Peace Monitor, Issue 12, vol. 7, 5th September 2001. http://www.actsa.org/Angola/apm/apm0712.html.
- 25.
BBC News, 2001a. Savimbi told to respect accords.
- 26.
Angola Peace Monitor, Issue 11, vol. 14, Sept 2008.
- 27.
BBC News, 2008b.
- 28.
Riley, 2004, p. 8.
- 29.
Wilson et al., 2007, p. 16.
- 30.
Besides the Angola incident described in this chapter, see also the 27March05 incident in Thailand. MIPT Terrorism Knowledgebase entry http://tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=22667
- 31.
BBC News. (2007, February 19). Dozens dead in India train blasts.
- 32.
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Lieberman, C.A., Bucht, R. (2009). Rail Transport Security. In: Haberfeld, M., Hassell, A. (eds) A New Understanding of Terrorism. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0115-6_10
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