Suicide attack

The moment when hijacker-pilot Marwan al-Shehhi carried out a suicide dive on the South Tower (left) with a Boeing 767 during the September 11 attacks, New York City
Two Kamikaze pilots: Lt. Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y (left) in a suicide dive against USS Essex on 25 November 1944 and pilot Yukio Araki (right) died in a suicide attack on 27 May 1945, at age 17

A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators intentionally end their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is often associated with terrorism or war. When the attackers are labelled as terrorists, the attacks are sometimes referred to as an act of suicide terrorism. Military use of suicide is not directly regulated by international law, but suicide attacks sometimes violate prohibitions against perfidy or targeting civilians. Suicide attacks have occurred in various contexts, ranging from military campaigns—such as the Japanese kamikaze pilots during World War II (1944–1945)—to more contemporary Islamic terrorist campaigns—including the September 11 attacks in 2001. Suicide attacks have been used by a wide range of political ideologies, from far-right (Japan and Germany in WWII) to far-left (such as the PKK and JRA).


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