Suicide attack

A suicide attack is carried out by a suicide attacker (Arabic: Shaheed), sometimes also referred to as suicide bomber or homicide bomber when explosives are used. A suicide attacker is a person who sacrifices themself to kill others.

When using explosives, the bomber detonates himself in a crowded place with the goal of killing as many people as possible. Homicide bombers are terrorists who kill people indiscriminately, men, women, infants, children, elderly, even their own compatriot believers. They use explosives secretly carried on their persons, knowing that they will be killed in the attack. The sometimes refers to these people as "suicide bombers" although their intent is to murder others, not to commit suicide.

The typical homicide bomber is a young man, although in a few cases women or teenagers have been goaded into doing this. Sometimes the homicide bomber drives a truck or other vehicle containing a more deadly load of explosives. Airplanes have been used (see Kamikaze below; also 9/11).

During the Vietnam War, adults reportedly strapped live grenades onto a child's body and sent him into a G.I. bar knowing that lonely American men being fond of children would be unlikely to be suspicious of a child.^{[Citation Needed]}

Many people mistakenly believe that Islam endorses the use of suicide bombing as a tactic in warfare. Whatever the official position of different Islamic scholars on the issue, the fact remains that this practice is encouraged and widely used by Muslim terrorists waging Jihad, and that the murderous homicide bombers are celebrated as martyrs by their communities. Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein used to pay $25,000 to the families of Palestinian homicide bombers who attacked Israelis.

The kamikaze were Japanese pilots who flew their planes into Allied naval vessels in World War II as a human substitute for guided missiles. The term kamikaze is derived from the Japanese name for the hurricanes that drove back the Mongol invaders; meaning "divine wind" or "wind of the gods".