Terrorist Incidents Research Articles

Finding the Optimal Allocation of Checkpoints Using the Dynamic Programming method

This research aims to use the competent mathematical method through which it is possible to find the best allocation for the main checkpoints in one of the Iraqi Governorates, which contains 17 administrative units. The Dynamic Programming (DP) method and the method of background calculations were used for this method. The problem of the research lies in the fact that many administrative units in this governorate are subjected to organized attacks by terrorist gangs, which lead to the loss of the lives of many citizens, security forces, as well as private and public properties for them. The security reality of some administrative units requires a set of important data through which the best solutions are found to preserve these administrative units from terrorist and criminal operations and incidents. Therefore, this research focused on the use of one of the important scientific methods, the DP method, to find the Optimal Allocation (OA) of checkpoints in those administrative units, which hopefully contributes to reducing terrorist attacks, breaches, and other criminal incidents. The researchers used the checklist, which contains many questions that were asked of some civilians and state employees. The results proved to us that the proposed allocation will lead to an increase in the population density in the governorate by about 38 thousand people through the reallocation of checkpoints to administrative units, as some of them need to reduce the number of checkpoints and others need to increase the number of checkpoints. The used program is Excel. Paper type: Research Paper

An exploratory study on manifesting decision-inertia in a 360-degree extended reality terrorist incident

Emergency response decision making is crucial in managing critical incidents; however, several studies have demonstrated the negative effects of decision inertia. Understanding the manifestation and impact of decision inertia, as well as utilising extended reality (XR) technology with 360-degree immersion, should enhance decision making in high-stress environments and improve emergency response efforts. This study investigated decision inertia, using 109 participants, in an XR 360-degree environment and its impact on decision-making outcomes. The findings revealed that participants often opted for a sub-optimal outcome, and decision inertia scores varied across these outcomes. Linear regression analysis demonstrated that decision inertia scores significantly predicted decision outcomes, with higher decision inertia scores associated with sub-optimal decision-making. Participants prior moral decision-making did influence subsequent immersive reality decision outcomes and demonstrated a Bayesian updating effect. The Structured Tabular Thematic Analysis highlighted the importance of information validity, decision confidence, and scenario fidelity in decision-making within the immersive environment. The study provides insights into decision inertia in immersive virtual reality critical incidents and offers practical solutions for improving decision-making processes in emergency response contexts.

The Impact of Terrorism on Liquidity and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from Non-U.S. Stocks Listed on the NYSE

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine the impact of a country’s terrorism activity on the liquidity and information asymmetry of non-U.S. stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) between 2011 and 2019. Our study shows that non-U.S. stocks from countries with higher terrorism index scores demonstrate wider spreads and lower market quality. Furthermore, these stocks display more pronounced price impacts resulting from trades and a higher probability of information-based trading. Additionally, we investigate the impact of major terrorism incidents in Europe on non-U.S. stocks and find that liquidity deteriorates for stocks from countries in the aftermath of terrorist activity, and that the effect from these individual incidents are contained to the first day. These findings imply that a country’s level of terrorism activity significantly influences the market quality of non-U.S. stocks.

Political Instability Causes & Affects

This article investigates the relationship between political instability and economic growth. We define “political instability” as the propensity of a government collapse, and we argues in which political instability and economic growth are interdependent to each other. The main result of this article is that in countries and as well as in Pakistan time periods with a high propensity of government collapse, growth is significantly lower as otherwise. This effect remains strong and shows consequences of political instability to socio-economic policies, unequal distribution of wealth, corruption, unemployment, poverty, mental and physical health, internal external terrorism and poor family leadership.” This article explores the complex link between political instability and economic growth, emphasizing the definition of "political instability" as the propensity for the dissolution of the government. The central theme of our argument is the relationship between economic expansion and political instability. This study's main conclusion is that, in nations—Pakistan being one prominent example eras marked by a higher risk of political collapse tend to have far slower rates of economic growth than periods marked by greater stability. This research reveals the profound effects of political instability on socio-economic policies, highlighting its long-lasting influence. The consequences are multifaceted, including uneven economic distribution, widespread corruption, prolonged joblessness, high rates of poverty, and negative impacts on mental and physical health. Moreover, political unrest has a significant impact on the incidence of both domestic and foreign terrorism, making security issues worse in impacted areas. Additionally, the study clarifies how political instability undermines the authority of families and shatters the foundation of social systems. This paper offers a thorough examination of the complex effects of political instability, shedding light on how it affects numerous socioeconomic indicators and economic growth. Comprehending these processes is of paramount importance for policymakers, scholars, and international leaders who aim to tackle the obstacles presented by political instability and promote stable, robust communities.

Monsoon Marauders and Summer Violence: Exploring the Spatial Relationship between Climate Change and Terrorist Activity in India

Climate change is a global phenomenon that has been associated with a growing list of concerns in society today, often leaving more questions than answers. Thus, it is no surprise that questions are forming regarding the effects of climate change on global security, and more specifically, terrorism. India is the ideal case study for investigating the relationship between climate change and extremism, with average temperatures in the country reaching record highs as well as having 9,096 terrorist incidents occur during our 20-year study period between 1998 and 2017. Using daily temperature, precipitation, elevation, and distance to the equator data from the National Climatic Data Center and terrorist incidents from the Global Terrorism Data base (GTD), this study assesses the spatial relationship between these factors through geospatial analyses. Suitability analyses indicate that all the climatological variables tested—temperature, precipitation, and elevation—relate to shifting patterns of terrorist activity. We also found that beyond intensity, seasons result in a shifting of patterns in terrorist behavior to other locales. Implications for the global community and for India specifically are discussed.

Terrorist attacks in Iran: A counter-terrorism medicine analysis.

Terrorism is a combined phenomenon, the concept of which is strongly affected by the spatial and temporal situation. Terrorist attacks can affect the demand for and delivery of healthcare services and often put a unique burden on the first responders, hospitals, and health systems. This study provides an epidemiological description of all -terrorist-related attacks in Iran from 1979 to 2020. Data were collected using a retrospective search through Global Terrorism Database (GTD). GTD was searched using internal database search functions for all incidents that occurred in Iran from January 1, 1979, to December 31, 2020. The target type, attack type, primary weapon type, perpetrator group, country where the incident occurred, and the number of fatalities and injuries were collected, and the results were analyzed. In total, 543 terrorist attacks were identified in the study period, which resulted in the fatality of 1,150 people and the injury of 3,792 people. It indicates 2.12 fatalities and 7,009 injuries per incident. Explosives were used in 301 attacks (55.63 percent), followed by incendiary weapons in 177 attacks (32.71 percent). The most significant types of attacks are bombings in 290 attacks (52.3 percent), followed by assassination in 99 attacks (17.9 percent), and armed assaults in 81 attacks (14.6 percent). Due to a decreasing trend of terrorist incidents in Iran, we can state that national security and stability have improved in Iran. However, the development of security promotion policies and passive defense approaches can help prevent the occurrence of such incidents.

A longitudinal follow-up study of rescue and recovery narratives of Oklahoma City bombing responders nearly a quarter century later.

Most research examining first responders of terrorist incidents has been conducted in early post-disaster periods, utilized quantitative research methods, and focused on psychopathology such as post-traumatic stress. Longitudinal follow-up assessments of 124 workers from 181 baseline volunteer rescue and recovery workers originally studied were completed nearly a quarter century after the terrorist bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Open-ended qualitative interviews were used in the follow-up study. The rescue and recovery work, vividly described decades later, was gruesome. These workers' descriptions captured their mental toughness and their professional missions, as well as the emotional and mental health (MH) toll on their lives. The extreme nature of rescue and recovery work in the aftermath of terrorism suggests potential utility for MH interventions to address the psychological toll that can be expected of human beings under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Problems and Improvement Measures in the Current Counter-terrorism System - Focusing on the Military

The current “Anti-Terrorism Act for the Protection of Citizens and Public Safety” requires that if a terrorist incident occurs within a military facility, a military facility terrorism response headquarters is established and operated to comprehensively handle related situations. The military (軍) has made great progress in the field of counter-terrorism, but since prevention of terrorism is very important, the military's overall counter-terrorism intelligence activities need to be reorganized. At this point, to prevent terrorist acts within military facilities, legal reinforcement is needed to ensure smooth intelligence collection activities for each military intelligence and investigative agency. In particular, to effectively prevent terrorism, the military's intelligence collection system, which has a decentralized structure, must be unified. In addition, in order for the Military Counter-terrorism Intelligence Council to be operated to share counter-terrorism intelligence, considering the urgency of terrorist incidents, a control tower that can analyze and disseminate intelligence 24 hours a day is needed.

Multi-agent modeling of crowd dynamics under bombing attack cases

Terrorist attacks are a catastrophic man-made emergent phenomenon. The current situation of international violent terrorism is severe. Public places with high-density crowds are more likely to be attacked by violent terrorists. To effectively reduce the number of casualties caused by violent terrorist incidents, it is crucial to take preventive management at the beginning of the incident. This paper analyzed the characteristics of the self-organization of crowds and terrorists in public places during a suicide bombing attack and conducted simulation experiments with an agent-based model. The simulation results show that unobstructed escape routes and controlling external sites will improve the evacuation efficiency of the crowd when a violent terrorist incident occurs; the pedestrian flow in public places affects the overall evacuation time; and timely and effective control of violent terrorists can reduce the number of casualties among the crowd. The optimized strategies obtained through experiments will help public security organs prevent violent terrorist incidents in public places and improve the efficiency of early disposal.

Terrorism and economic complexity in Africa: The unconditional impact of military expenditure

AbstractFollowing the rising wave of terrorism in Africa, particularly in the last decade, this study investigated the effect of terrorism on economic complexity in the region as well as the moderating role of military expenditure in the terrorism–economic complexity relationship. A panel of 34 African economies was used over the period 2010–2021. The study also used the dynamic system generalized method of moments framework. We find that the unconditional effect of terrorism on economic complexity in Africa is predominantly negative and significant, and that military expenditure in the region has been ineffective in moderating this adverse effect. This finding remained robust regardless of whether terrorism is measured by the number of terrorism incidents, fatalities, injuries, or hostages. However, our results showed that industrialization, urbanization, and governance institutional quality are potent channels for promoting economic complexity in Africa. Among others, the study emphasized the need for policymakers and leaders in Africa to collaborate at the level of the African Union to address the detrimental effects of terrorism on the continent.

Impact of terror on international trade in financial services: Does the development of financial institutions matter?

AbstractWe examine the impact of terror on international trade in financial services and the role of financial institutions in alleviating this impact. Using a sample of 67 countries from 2000 to 2020, we find that a 10% increase in the number of terrorist incidents in the importer and/or the exporter results, on average, in a 1.77–2.05% annual reduction in their bilateral financial service trade which is more economically significant than what has been documented for trade in commodities. Top exporters and importers of financial services, however, are less affected by the incidence of terrorism. Confirming the critically important role of systemic stability, we further find that financial institutions' stability (measured by the Z score) is the most powerful factor in mitigating the detrimental impact of terrorism on trade. There is also some limited evidence that exporting countries where financial institutions exhibit more efficiency (measured as the ratio of overhead costs to total assets) cope better with terrorism.

Far-right Terrorism in the West in Years 2015–2022

Most politically motivated terrorist incidents in the West are now classified as far-right. The growing threat is confirmed by statistics. In 2010, only one far-right terrorist attack was recorded, compared to 49 in 2019. In the past five years, there have been more than 35 far-right terrorist incidents in the West yearly, and over the past two decades, far-right terrorism has been more fatal than far-left terrorism. The aim of this article is to characterise the far-right terrorism in selected countries, by identifying similarities and differences. The following research problem is central to this analysis: in which regions of the West is far-right terrorism becoming a greater threat than Jihadi-oriented terrorism? Research has shown that despite the low level of casualties caused by far-right terrorists compared to those caused by jihadists, in some regions, the number of fatal far-right attacks has increased by 250% since 2014.

Terrorism group prediction using feature combination and BiGRU with self-attention mechanism.

The world faces the ongoing challenge of terrorism and extremism, which threaten the stability of nations, the security of their citizens, and the integrity of political, economic, and social systems. Given the complexity and multifaceted nature of this phenomenon, combating it requires a collective effort, with tailored methods to address its various aspects. Identifying the terrorist organization responsible for an attack is a critical step in combating terrorism. Historical data plays a pivotal role in this process, providing insights that can inform prevention and response strategies. With advancements in technology and artificial intelligence (AI), particularly in military applications, there is growing interest in utilizing these developments to enhance national and regional security against terrorism. Central to this effort are terrorism databases, which serve as rich resources for data on armed organizations, extremist entities, and terrorist incidents. The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) stands out as one of the most widely used and accessible resources for researchers. Recent progress in machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and natural language processing (NLP) offers promising avenues for improving the identification and classification of terrorist organizations. This study introduces a framework designed to classify and predict terrorist groups using bidirectional recurrent units and self-attention mechanisms, referred to as BiGRU-SA. This approach utilizes the comprehensive data in the GTD by integrating textual features extracted by DistilBERT with features that show a high correlation with terrorist organizations. Additionally, the Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique with Tomek links (SMOTE-T) was employed to address data imbalance and enhance the robustness of our predictions. The BiGRU-SA model captures temporal dependencies and contextual information within the data. By processing data sequences in both forward and reverse directions, BiGRU-SA offers a comprehensive view of the temporal dynamics, significantly enhancing classification accuracy. To evaluate the effectiveness of our framework, we compared ten models, including six traditional ML models and four DL algorithms. The proposed BiGRU-SA framework demonstrated outstanding performance in classifying 36 terrorist organizations responsible for terrorist attacks, achieving an accuracy of 98.68%, precision of 96.06%, sensitivity of 96.83%, specificity of 99.50%, and a Matthews correlation coefficient of 97.50%. Compared to state-of-the-art methods, the proposed model outperformed others, confirming its effectiveness and accuracy in the classification and prediction of terrorist organizations.

Prawna płaszczyzna zwalczania terroryzmu w Polsce

This article addresses the issue of terrorism and its counteraction in Polish legislation. Its aim is to demonstrate how Polish law is prepared to prevent terrorist incidents and which agencies and authorities are responsible for these actions. The article applies the method of institutional-legal analysis. Based on it, conclusions can be drawn that Polish legislation is relatively well-prepared to combat terrorism.

Finding the Best Analysis for the Sleeper Cells of Terrorist Acts in the Crowded Areas of Human Activities in the City of Baghdad

Terrorist operations disturbed societies and threatened their existence due to destructive ideas carried by those groups that believe in radical change and the use of multiple methods to implement their ideas, as well as taking methods of concealment among society, so it has become difficult to detect them. The study's purpose is to locate sleeper cells of terrorist operations in areas dense with various human activities using remote sensing techniques and geographic information systems programs. The programs were used to analyze the group of terrorist incidents data that occurred in Baghdad in 2011 and study how to limit the crimes spreading in Baghdad. The study included building a model in spatial information systems for sites by identifying the accidents by simulating the reality with the Global Positioning System (GPS) to be a starting point for the spatial analysis of the accidents and devising a scientific approach to locate sleeper cells using statistical methods and theories. Moreover, predictive research focuses on several spatial studies to produce predictive maps for the sleeper cell sites spreading from their location toward the cities. The GIS proved to be one of the primary software packages that help decision-makers take appropriate measures at the right time, predict the spatial spread of future accidents, and control them in the future to be an effective model for researchers.

Civil-Military Relations and Domestic Terrorism

Civil-military relations and terrorism are both extensively studied subjects. Their relationship has, however, yet to be examined. We maintain that public conflict between the civilian and the military leadership in a country and declining civil control over the armed forces may often precipitate a rise in domestic terror events. Civil-military conflict and reduced civilian control can lead to agency slack by the armed forces and ineffective counterterror policies. These phenomena are also associated with policies that exclude groups in society and generate grievances, leading some to turn to terror. In zero inflated negative binomial analyses of domestic terror events and two distinct indicators of civil-military tension, we find support for our contention. Terror incidents increase both when civil-military conflict rises and when civilian control decreases. Our results add to understanding of both the domestic consequences of civil-military tension and the types of influences that impact domestic terror.

The Bai'at Santri System of Islamic Unity Islamic Boarding Schools in Indonesia as An Effort to Deradicalize Religious Behavior

One of the Islamic boarding schools that is known to be quite fundamental in implementing an understanding of Islamic teachings is the Islamic Association Islamic Boarding School. The main sources of Islamic teachings which are the benchmark for truth in all actions, especially those related to faith and sharia are the Koran and al-Hadith. However, if there is minimal development of interpretive methodology for these two sources, it will result in exclusive religious behavior and truth claims for one's own opinions. So, it is not uncommon for this understanding to give rise to cultural conflicts in society where some parties have long practiced traditional Islamic religion and give rise to radical thought patterns and actions. The fundamental and radical thinking pattern which is interpreted politically is not without reason, but refers to various terrorist incidents which when the perpetrators were interviewed and books which were used as references for acts of terrorism indicated radical, takfiri and truth claim thinking patterns which were then aimed at educational products. Deradicalism means eliminating radical actions or radicalism, eliminating all ideologies and currents that give rise to acts of violence and terror. This gives rise to religious radicalism which, at a certain level, gives rise to acts of terror as an implementation of the concept of jihad which causes victims in an inhumane way. The research method uses descriptive analysis with qualitative data types and a sociological approach. The type of data is adjusted to the research objectives, while the primary data source is the caregivers and students of Islamic Association Islamic boarding schools in West Java, East Java and Central Java. Secondary data is in the form of students' allegiance documents, books about the Islamic Association, and profiles of the Islamic Association Islamic boarding school, the tertiary data is all scientific works that support this research. Data was collected by observation, interviews, documentation and literature study. The data collected was analyzed using the content analysis method.

Psikospiritual Islam dan Perilaku Terorisme di Indonesia

Psikospiritual Islam dan Perilaku Terorisme di Indonesia

Empirical analysis of investment in Pakistan’s upstream sector

The paper examines the oil and gas exploration and production in Pakistan and finds the effectiveness of regulatory regimes in attracting investment. The empirical part involves estimating the error correction model where the upstream sector's oil and gas rigs count is regressed on crude oil price and domestic economic activity using monthly data from January 1995 to February 2023. The study further finds the impact of exogenous variables, including petroleum policy dummies, incidences of terrorism, and LNG import, on the drilling activities in the country. Specifically, we test the data for unit root and check the cointegration before estimating an error correction model to examine the dynamic relationship among total rigs, oil prices, and the Quantum index of manufacturing (QIM), a proxy for monthly economic activity. The results highlight the existence of cointegration, implying a long-run relationship between the variables. The natural gas reserves in Pakistan's upstream sector respond positively to crude oil and domestic wellhead gas prices, with a price elasticity of more than 1 for gas price to reserves addition. The gas rigs model gives more robust results. Moreover, incidences of terrorism, LNG imports and policy dummies are significantly affecting the natural gas rigs.

Silent Sympathy: News Attention, Subtle Support for Far-Right Extremism, and Negative Attitudes Toward Muslims

ABSTRACT Right-wing terrorist (RWT) incidents targeting Muslims have become more frequent and news reporting about these incidents can trigger a variety of cognitions and behaviors in audiences. While some studies report more tolerance and openness in response to RWT, hate crimes against minorities can increase in their aftermath. To date, we know little about the associations between following news reporting about RWT and attitudes toward Muslims as one of the main target groups of modern RWT. Using a young, quota-based German sample (aged 16–25, N = 865), we build on Terror Management and Social Identity Theory to shed light on the relationships between attention to RWT in the media, threat attributed to RWT, and negative attitudes toward Muslims. Additionally, a measure of subtle support for far-right extremist stances (SSE) was included, accounting for moderation effects. Results suggested that attention to RWT was positively related to perceived threat. This association was weaker in individuals with higher levels of SSE. Attributing more threat was associated with less negative attitudes toward Muslims, independent of SSE. Media attention only had a (positive) association with negative attitudes in individuals with moderate to high levels of SSE. Implications and limitations are discussed.