Suicide attacks in Africa

1. Changing face of terror: Suicide attacks in Africa 2015. 10. 13. Col. JÁNOS BESENYO (PhD)

2. Agenda • What is the definition of a suicide attack? • Weapons and methods • Alarming statistics • North Africa • Africa’s interior • The tendencies in 2015 • Cases • Prognosis

3. Definition of a Suicide attack • “Attacks or operations where the attackers involved intend to deploy themselves as a weapon – in the full expectation that they will be killed – in the execution of a deliberate attack against people and/or property to cause harm, which is normally ideologically, religiously and/or politically motivated.” – Anneli Botha(2013): Practical Guide to understanding and preventing suicide operations in Africa • “a suicide terror attack is an act of violence, where there is no chance for the perpetrator to return alive” - Pedahzur, Ami (2004): Suicide Terrorism. • The aim of terrorism is to intimidate • It is a tactic and its most abhorrent tool is the suicide attack • Suicide bombing: the perpetrator is not likely to survive

4. Weapons and methods • The most often used tools are explosive belt or satchel charge • Explosives are frequently hidden in a car or a van • Favored vehicles for suicide bombing: • Bicycle • Car • Boat • Bus • Plane

5. Alarming statistics • Between the early 1980s and the beginning of the twenty-first century, some 200 suicide attacks took place around the world • Dramatic increase from 2000: more than 3000 suicide attacks have taken place over the last 15 years • Significant role of the attack against World Trade Center in 2001 • In 2013, 18 countries - 3100 deaths in 291 attacks (25 percent increase in the number of attacks over the previous year) • from 1998 to 2011:117 suicide attacks in Africa • from 2011 till 2015 198 suicide attacks happened with 1880 dead and 3538 wounded. • 2014: 65 suicide bombings (total 792 dead and 1492 injured) • In this year 62 suicide attempts till 17 August (total 535 death and 1006 injured).

6. NorthAfrica • political instability after the Arab Spring • result: turmoil and considerable increase in suicide bombings

7. North Africa • Egypt: Terrorist activity increased particularly after the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi. Most dangerous area is the Sinai Peninsula (four out of Egypt’s six suicide bombings until the end of 2013) • Libya: Suicide attacks increased significantly. First suicide attack occurred in December 2013; there were 5 similar cases in the following six months • Tunisia: serious security problems, but only one suicide attack until now • Algeria: least troubled: no suicide attack during the last three years

8. North Africa

9. Africa’s interior • The number of suicide attacks in Africa’s interior has remained relatively stable • 33 such attacks in 2013 → five fewer than in the previous year • At the end of 2014 the number of the attacks reached 48 • Till 17 August 2015 – 42 attacks

10. East Africa • The most prominent terrorist organization is al-Shabaab in Somalia • It carried out 14 attacks against foreign troops and government officials present in the country until the end of 2013 • It did not restrict the suicide attacks to Somalian territory → carried out several attacks in the neighboring countries (Uganda 2010 → 76 deaths, Kenya October 2013 → 67 deaths)

11. West Africa • Mali became another danger zone • There were 15 suicide attacks, most of them carried out by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, mainly in the district of Gao and Kidal as a revenge of French intervention • They also carried out assassins in other countries (e.g. Nigeria in May 2013 with al-Mulathamun Battalion) • Considerable decline in 2013: 21 attacks in the previous year reduced to 3 occasions • Decline seems to be temporary → additional attempts on crowded markets, petrol stations or Shia mosques

12. Trends in 2015 - Libya • The Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries attacked government troops loyal to General KalifaHafter, who fight intensely against Islamist forces • The method: the perpetrator close a checkpoint with a truckload of explosives and activate the detonator when soldiers approach to check it out • Islamist radicals rely on suicide attacks with increasing frequency, not only against enemy combatant forces but also against civilian targets. - 27th of January 2015, Corinthia Hotel

13. Mali-Somalia • Suicide attacks targeted primarily UN and AU peacekeepers (checkpoints or convoys) and against government employees • civilians are „collateral damage,” but Al-Shabaab also targets them directly • Attacks are carried out with vehicles, but suicide bombers and small arms fire are often combined. • Difference in the number of attacks until the middle of August: 3 in Mali, 14 in Somalia – significant increase

14. Nigeria-Cameroon-Niger-Chad • regional insecurity in West-Central Africa - porous borders - suicide attacks in all countries • The number of female suicide bombers is growing • Boko Haram often targets those schools where Koranic studies are limited • Prominent religious leaders are also targets if they encourage their community to fight against the terror organization • Boko Haram affiliated with IS

15. Cases - 1 July 22, 2015, Maroua, Cameroon and Gombe, Nigeria • Maroua, Cameroon: two girls, under 15 years old, bomb the central market in the town and its adjacent Hausa neighborhood at 3.00. pm. – 11 killed, 32 wounded • Gombe, Nigeria: Dadin Kowa bus station bombed at 7:30 pm, the Dukku terminus about 20 minutes later. 42 killed and 60 wounded. Gombe is attacked frequently (e.g. 16. July – 49 killed, more than 100 wounded). • twin suicide attacks in N'Djamena, Chad • twin attacks - worrysome 2015 trend of using captured and brainwashed child and adolescent suicide bombers by Boko Haram - often females. • Boko Haram become a potent regional force - employ sophisticated tactics of brainwashing their captives not only within the confines of Nigeria but also in Cameroon, Niger, and Chad

17. Suicide attack in the central market of Maroua on 22 July 2015

18. Bomb attack at 7:50 pm • Gombe e Blast ripped through the station at almost exactly 7:30 pm

19. Cases - 2 20th February, 2015Libya, Al-Qubbah, • targets: police headquarters, petrol station, the city hall, and at the private residence of a politician and Member of Parliament, Aguila Saleh Issa • Methods: suicide attackers with car bombs • petrol station: suicide attackers entered the crowd that queued there for petrol with an emergency vehicle filled with explosives - highest causalities • 42 people died, more than 70 people were injured included five Egyptians • The attacks were intended as an answer to the governments of Libya and Egypt, after Egyptian air force, with Libyan government acquiescence, bombed terrorist strongholds that belonged to IS’s Libyan allies. - attackers: Shura Council of the Youth of Islam • turning point in post-Qaddhafi Libya: civilians targeted for the first time – previously only military and police posts had been attacked by the militias

21. Attacks were carried out at the city headquarters, at a petrol station, at a city hall, and at the private residence of a politician on 20 February 2015

22. Cases - 3 21st February, 2015Somalia, Mogadishu, • Target: Central Hotel – members of Parliament • The male attacker (Ismail Muse) crashed his vehicle into the main gate of the building, and when inside, he blew himself. • At the same time the female attacker (Lula Ahmed Dahir) mingled with the worshipers in the mosque and detonated the device on her body. • Following the explosions, Al-Shabab gunmen hiding outside launched an attack against the ministers who were holding a meeting. • 25 dead (including two MPs and Mohamed Aden Guled, the vice mayor of Mogadishu) and 54 injured

24. Attack of Central Hotel on 21 February 2015

25. Prognosis • Current trends indicate that the number of suicide attacks will increase • Importance of the ideological radicalization of terrorist organizations and the role of political instability • The African terrorist organizations have wide global connections • Recruitment is no problem → volunteers are local inhabitants living under the poverty line in economically underdeveloped countries • Solution: eliminate political anarchy and stabilize the economy of these states → increased support from the Western World is needed

26. Biography • János Besenyő: Suicide Terror AttacksinAfrica – StrategicImpact (Romania), ISSN: 1841-5784, No. 56., 3/2015, pp. 90-100, https://figshare.com/articles/Suicide_Terror_Attacks_in_Africa/7019681

27. Questions? Thank you for your kindattention!