Female suicide bomber

Female suicide bombers are women who undertake suicide attacks, wherein the bomber kills herself while simultaneously killing targeted people. Suicide bombers are normally viewed as male political radicals, but since the 1960s, female suicide attacks have been on the rise. Through 1985–2006, 15% of all suicide attacks were conducted by female suicide bombers.

There are many organizations, such as Boko Haram (which is the first group to use females in a majority of their suicide bombings and surpassed the Tamil Tigers in using more female suicide bombers than any other terrorist group in history), ISIS, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, that recently started using women as tools in their attacks, since they are normally viewed as less of a threat than their male counterparts. This includes women having the element of surprise, a hesitancy to search females, increased publicity for female suicide bombing attacks, and the female stereotype as non-violent.

Research shows that female suicide bombers tend to replace depleted male cadres and tend to exhibit little active participation or inadequate training. An analysis of suicide attacks over the period 1985-2017 finds that female suicide bombers inflict fewer fatalities than their male counterparts.