Suicide attack

A suicide attack is a method of directing a weapon against a target, guided by a human being, who will inevitably die in the attack. In modern times, the first class of frequent suicide attacks were by various Japanese weapons in the Second World War, primarily conventional aircraft that would crash into the target. These weapons were used exclusively against military targets.

Suicide attacks, often by an individual wearing an explosive charge and walking to the target, are common terrorist attacks; the targets may be military but often are civilian. Larger and deadlier attacks come when the explosives are in a vehicle (e.g., 1983 bombings of French and U.S. barracks in Beirut) or by boat (USS Cole, 1990) and by large aircraft as in the 9-11 attacks.