Dying to kill

It is reported in the press that in Pakistan, 12 security personnel were killed last month when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a check post in Pakistan's north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

- SANKAR SEN

Of late, there has been an escalation of suicide bombing attacks by terrorists in Pakistan.

Hafis Gul Bahadur, a militant organisation affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, claimed responsibility for this night raid. Pakistan says that TTP, which the USA lists as a global terrorist organisation, is orchestrating the deadly violence from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. Kabul has stoutly denied the allegations.

Suicide bombing is becoming the most dreaded form of terrorist attack in many countries of the world. In India, suicide bombing was not witnessed in the early days of terrorism in Kashmir and Punjab. The first and most daring case of suicide bombing was the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by LTTE cadres in 1991. The Chief Minister of Punjab, Sardar Beant Singh was the next victim of suicide terrorism in Chandigarh in August 1995. The first suicide bombing in Kashmir took place in April 1999, in the Badami Bagh area of Srinagar, when a Jaish militant launched a suicide attack on Indian Army 15 Corps Headquarters.

Suicide bombing first hogged the limelight in April 1983, when the terrorist network of Hezbollah attacked the American Embassy in Beirut, and later, in the same year, devastated the US Marine headquarters in Lebanon.