When children become the targets of terrorism

Last week, Taleban terrorists stormed an army-run school in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing at least 132 children and committing one of the deadliest attacks against children in recent years.

The incident adds to a decade of terrorist activities which are becoming more cold-blooded and wanton than ever before and are particularly targeted at children, say historians and criminology experts.

These innocent lives, they say, are regarded by every culture as worth protecting, which makes them the prime targets of modern-era terrorists who are out to make the most impact possible with their acts of violence.

"Terrorists are looking for something of value that they can strike... targeting children is something that really hurts," said Professor Emerita of History Anna Geifman of Boston University, who is also senior researcher at the political studies department at Bar Ilan University in Israel.

"Terrorists want to show that they are willing to do anything so... we should take them seriously," added Professor Laura Dugan from the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland.

Previously, terrorists "had their own code of how to behave", said criminal justice administration professor Gus Martin of California State University.

American terrorists, he said, would plant bombs and dial ahead so buildings could be evacuated, or Pakistani hijackers would free captives before blowing up the plane.

But that morality began to shift in the 1990s, especially with the appearance of groups like Al-Qaeda; and on Sept 11, "a new era had dawned", said Prof Martin.

"Now the moral compass has completely changed - many of these groups have no hesitation in killing as many as possible."

Prof Geifman, who has written a book on terrorism called Death Orders, added that after the 9/11 attacks, terrorists had to look for the next "sensational and impressive" act of violence, and that was when they turned to children.

One of the most notorious acts of terrorism targeted at children was the school attack and hostage-taking in Beslan, Russia in 2004.

Rebels took over the school for three days and held 1,200 students, teachers and parents hostage in the school gym. They turned it into a death camp, denying children food and water.

Many died when a bomb was detonated in the building, while others were shot by the rebels as they tried to escape.

According to reports, more than 700 were wounded and more than 300 died - 186 of them children.

Prof Dugan said attacks on educational institutions "started increasing dramatically" that year. And in the years after, it "becomes clear that schools that are targeted have young children attending them".

The proliferation of child victims could also have to do with terrorist groups copying each other, said experts. Prof Dugan said such trends have emerged before: "Suicide attacks have spread across groups since the early 1980s... another example is airline hijacking in the late 1960s and early 1970s."

In the case of Boko Haram, the terrorist group that kidnapped nearly 300 girls in Nigeria in April - and another batch of at least 185 a week ago - the attacks are a statement against Western education and the education of women. It believes that women should be at home raising children and looking after their husbands instead of getting educated.

Some of these women are "kidnapped and sold into slavery", said Prof Martin.

Another explanation for targeting children is to make a "counterculture" statement, said Prof Geifman.

"Whatever is precious in the other culture, they will try to negate and destroy."

She said that many terrorist groups, including the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda, have a culture of revering death, whereas society in general "chooses life".

When they kill children, "they destroy the most precious symbol of life because there is nothing more alive than a child".

Many of these groups also believe killing these children is done with the blessing of their god.

Said Prof Martin: "They feel if they do god's work they will be clean and god favours this type of behaviour."

While governments work to stop these acts of terror, the man in the street also has a responsibility to stand up to such acts, said experts. Prof Geifman believes that while children are the immediate targets, ultimately the terrorist group is signalling to the public at large that the group should be feared.

"We are the real targets," said Prof Geifman. "The terrorists are talking to us."

But instead of avoiding school or work after an attack, life should go on, she urged.

"They want to see every one of us act as a hostage... We should do the opposite and not succumb to fear."

simlinoi@sph.com.sg

MAJOR INCIDENTS IN PAST DECADE

Dec 14, 2014

Gumsuri village, Nigeria

Members of extremist group Boko Haram killed 35 people and kidnapped at least 185, mostly women and young girls, from a village in north-eastern Nigeria.

The remote village is less than 24km from the village of Chibok, where Boko Haram fighters seized nearly 300 schoolgirls in April.

April 14, 2014

Chibok, Nigeria

Boko Haram militants broke into the Government Girls Secondary School and abducted nearly 300 girls at gunpoint. Around 50 girls escaped by jumping off the back of trucks. The attack launched a global "Bring Back Our Girls" Twitter campaign, which was supported by US First Lady Michelle Obama. The Nigerian government has said it will do all it can to get the girls back, but admits it does not know where they are.

Feb 23, 2013

Musayyib city, Iraq

Al-Qaeda militants detonated at least one explosive-laden vehicle outside a primary school, killing one and injuring 60. Most of the victims were schoolchildren. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility and said the attack was in retaliation for the torture and genocide that Sunni civilians face in Iraqi prisons.

May 23, 2012

Taloqan city, Afghanistan

Suspected Taleban attackers sprayed poisonous material into the Bibi Haji school, injuring at least 120 people, including three female teachers. All survived the attack.

Sept 1, 2004

Beslan, Russia

A group of 30 to 35 rebels from Riyadus-Salikhin Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion of Chechen Martyrs seized a school in Beslan and took about 1,200 children, parents and teachers hostage in the school gym. The three-day siege left more than 300 dead and another 700 injured.

Sources: National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, Global Terrorism Database; The Guardian

This article was first published on December 21, 2014.
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