Suicide Attacks in 2016: The Highest Number of Fatalities | iNSS

2016 was the deadliest year in suicide terrorism, a main weapon of deterrence and one of the most effective tools for promoting the political goals of terrorist organizations since its use began in the early 1980s. This past year, 469 suicide bombings were carried out by 800 perpetrators in 28 countries, causing the deaths of about 5,650 people. The Islamic State continues to be the leading perpetrator of suicide bombings in the world, and in 2016 was directly or indirectly responsible (through organizations that swore allegiance to it and joined its ranks) for approximately 70 percent (322) of the suicide bombings in the world. In view of the Islamic State’s territorial losses and the increasing international efforts to drive it out of the areas it controls, it appears that suicide terrorism will be a key tool for the Islamic State in consolidating its image as invincible, creating deterrence against its enemies, and taking revenge for the international activity against it. The Islamic State’s partners and other terrorist groups will also likely redouble their efforts to carry out mass casualty large scale terrorist attacks.