Stabbing attacks, which have been used as a terrorist tactic for thousands of years, became an increasingly common form of terrorist attack on random civilians in the 21st century, in particular during the 2010s and 2020s.[1]

Like the vehicle-ramming attacks that increased during the same time period, stabbing attacks are prevalent because attackers can easily obtain knives and other stabbing instruments.

Causes propelling the rise of the tactic

According to security analyst Peter Bergen, stabbing attacks have gained popularity because such attacks are inexpensive and easy to carry out, but very difficult for security services to prevent.[2]

Incitement by terrorist groups

In May 2016, Al-Qaeda's Inspire published an article entitled “O Knife Revolution, Head Toward America.”[3] The magazine urged Muslims to kill “the intelligentsia, economic and influential personalities of America,” by low-tech methods including stabbing attacks on the grounds that such assaults are “easy options that do not require huge efforts or man power, but the result is parallel to the big operations or even more.”[3][4]

In October 2016, Rumiyah, the online propaganda and recruitment magazine published by the Islamic State (IS) told followers that holy warriors down through Muslim history have “struck the necks of the kuffar” in the name of Allah, with "swords, severing limbs and piercing the fleshy meat of those who opposed Islam.” The magazine advised its readers that knives are easy to obtain, easy to hide, and deadly, and that they make good weapons in places where Muslims might be regarded with suspicion.[5][4]

Modern history

A wave of lone wolf terrorist stabbing attacks in which Palestinian Arabs attacked Israelis began on 3 October 2015 with the first of the Lions' Gate stabbings.[6] The ensuing 2015–2016 wave of violence in Israeli-Palestinian conflict is thought to have been driven not by formal organizations but, rather by social media postings inspiring young Palestinians to undertake attacks with knives and with vehicles.[7][6][8][9] In response, Israeli police have revamped their anti-terrorism tactics, increasing monitoring of social media, improving the intercommunication of mobile devices, and giving security agencies the ability to instantly trace phone calls made from such devices.[10]

The series of Palestinian stabbing attacks were followed by the spread of such attacks during the wave of Islamic terrorism in Europe which had seen "at least" 10 stabbing attacks allegedly motivated by Islamic extremism in Europe by the spring of 2017, with a particular concentration of such attacks in France.[11][12] A number of cases have also occurred in the United States during this period, including the St. Cloud, Minnesota, mall stabbing and the Ohio State University attack.

DateIncidentLocation
2010Stabbing of Stephen TimmsBritain
2011Tel Aviv nightclub attackIsrael
2013La Défense attackFrance
2013Murder of Lee RigbyBritain
2013Tapuah Junction stabbingWest Bank
2014Queens hatchet attackUnited States
2014Endeavour Hills stabbingsAustralia
2014Alon Shvut stabbing attackWest Bank
2014Murder of Ibolya RyanEmirates
2014Kunming attackChina
2014Tours police station stabbingFrance
2015 Henriette Reker attack Germany
2015Nice stabbing attackFrance
2015Saint-Quentin-Fallavier attackSaint-Quentin-Fallavier, France
2015Lions' Gate stabbingsWest Bank
2015University of California, Merced stabbing attackUnited States
2015Tel Aviv synagogue stabbingIsrael
2015Avijit RoyBangladesh
2015Tel Aviv attacksIsrael
2016Hurghada attackEgypt
2016Hanover stabbingGermany
2016Murder of Hallel Yaffa ArielWest Bank
2016Stabbing of Brussels police officersBrussels, Belgium
2016Stabbing of Charleroi police officersCharleroi, Belgium
2016Murder of Jo CoxBirstall, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
2016Magnanville stabbingFrance
2016Normandy church attackFrance
2016Ohio restaurant machete attackUnited States
2016Paris police station attackParis
2016Würzburg train attackWürzburg, Germany
2016Munich knife attackMunich, Germany
2016Ohio State University attackUnited States
2016Minto stabbing attackAustralia
2017Westminster attackLondon
2017Paris machete attackParis
2017Jerusalem Light Rail stabbingIsrael
2017Queanbeyan stabbing attacksAustralia
2017London Bridge attackLondon
2017Notre Dame attackParis
2017Jerusalem attackWest Bank
2017Bishop International Airport incidentUnited States
2017Hurghada attackEgypt
2017Halamish stabbing attackWest Bank
2017Marseille stabbingFrance
2017Turku stabbingTurku, Finland
2017Hamburg stabbingHamburg, Germany
20182018 Ariel stabbingWest Bank
20182018 Vienna embassy stabbingAustria
20182018 Paris knife attackFrance
20182018 Liège attackBelgium
2018Flensburg stabbing incidentGermany
2018Lübeck bus attackGermany
2018Amsterdam train station attackAmsterdam, Netherlands
20182018 Melbourne stabbing attackAustralia
2018Murders of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren UelandMorocco
2019Oct Paris police headquarters stabbingParis, France
20192019 London Bridge attackLondon, United Kingdom
20202020 Villejuif stabbingVillejuif, France
20202020 Streatham attackLondon, United Kingdom
2020April 2020 Romans-sur-Isère knife attackRomans-sur-Isère, France
2020June 2020 Reading stabbings (3 fatalities)
20202020 Morges stabbing[13]Morges, Switzerland
2020September 2020 Paris stabbing attackParis, France
20202020 Dresden knife attackDresden, Germany
2020Murder of Samuel PatyÉragny-sur-Oise, France
2020October 2020 stabbing attack on Algerian-French womenParis, France
2020October attack, one woman decapitatedNice, France
2021Rambouillet knife attack[14]Yvelines, Île-de-France
2021Saskatoon stabbingSaskatoon, Canada
20212021 Auckland supermarket stabbingAuckland, New Zealand
2021Murder of David AmessEssex, United Kingdom
20222022 Brussels stabbingBrussels, Belgium
2023Algeciras church attacksAlgésiras, Spain

See also

References

  1. Bergema, Reinier; Kearney, Olivia. "Rise O Muwahhid, Wherever You May Be: An Analysis of the Democratization of the Terrorist Threat in the West".
  2. Bergen, Peter (22 March 2017). "London shows the challenge of preventing low-tech terror". CNN. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Latest Issue of Inspire Magazine Encourages Small Scale Attacks". ADL. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 Johnson, Bridget (6 October 2016). "ISIS Call for Stabbing Sprees a Nightmare Scenario for Stopping Terror Plots". New York Observer. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  5. Wright, Robin (26 November 2016). "The Hand of ISIS at Ohio State". The New Yorker. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  6. 1 2 Wedeman, Ben (15 October 2015). "Israeli-Palestinian violence: What you need to know". CNN. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  7. Booth, William (25 December 2015). "Israelis are calling attacks a 'new kind of Palestinian terrorism'". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  8. "U.S. House Panel Unanimously Votes to Condemn Palestinian Incitement". Haaretz.com. 2015-10-24.
  9. Hatovely, Tzipi (31 January 2016). "Palestinian Incitement: Hate-Speech That Kills". Newsweek. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  10. Fox, Robert (27 June 2017). "Israel changes tactics to tackle street terror". London Evening Standard.
  11. Jenkins, Nash (19 December 2016). "A Timeline of Recent Terrorist Attacks in Europe". Time. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  12. Rubin, Alissa (5 October 2016). "2 Brussels Police Officers Are Stabbed in 'Potential Terrorist Attack'". New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  13. Murder suspect acted ‘out of vengeance against the Swiss state’
  14. Terror inquiry into Rambouillet knife attack
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