[osint] Why Terrorist Attacks on Soft Targets?

Safer and easier to terrorize than battle-hardened troops likely to shoot
the terrorist dead?

B

Why
Terrorist Attacks on Soft Targets?

Source : South Asia Analysis Group
by B. Raman

http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2008/05/why-terrorist-attacks-on-soft-targ
ets.html

(In connection with the serial blasts by unidentified terrorists in Jaipur
on May 13, 2008, I am reproducing below a chapter from my forthcoming book
titled "Terrorism: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow" being published by the
Lancer Publishers of New Delhi later this month . www.lancerpublishers.com)

Soft targets are those not subject to special protection that are frequented
by the public, which could be local nationals or foreigners. Attacks on such
targets cause many human fatalities and demonstrate the capability of the
terrorist groups to operate without being detected by the intelligence and
counter-terrorism agencies. Destruction of or damage to economic or other
capabilities is not the primary aim of such attacks. The primary aim is to
kill human beings, though destruction or damage of capabilities may also
result from such attacks.

For such attacks on soft targets, a long period of preparations such as
keeping a surveillance on the target etc is not required. All that is
required is the creation or infiltration of a sleeper cell to undertake such
attacks and reaching to the cell the weapons or explosive devices to be
used. A sleeper cell is a small group of operatives specifically raised to
undertake a terrorist strike. The cell generally consists of persons, who
will actually undertake the strike with the help of hand-held weapons or
IEDs, and some others, who will provide the logistics such as smuggling in
the weapons or explosives, storing them safely till the time for the strike
comes, providing a hide-out for those who will actually undertake the strike
if they come from outside the area and facilitating their get-away after
they have carried out the strike. Those, who carry out the strike, are
generally specially trained in the handling of weapons and in the assembly
of IEDs. Those, who help in the logistics, need not be specially trained,
but they should support the ideology and objectives of the terrorist
organization, which undertakes the terrorist strike, and should enjoy its
confidence.

Those who carry out the strikes are generally from outside the area where a
target is chosen for attack. A resident of the area may develop qualms of
conscience about killing people whom he had known and with whom he had grown
up. Moreover, his absence from the area after the terrorist strike makes the
identification of the perpetrators by the police easier. An outsider is
unlikely to have such qualms of conscience and his get-away may not attract
attention. Those providing the logistics back-up could be from the same area
or from outside. Thus, a sleeper cell could consist completely of outsiders
infiltrated into the area of intended operation or could be a mix of
outsiders and residents of the area. These are called sleeper cells because
its members are specially trained or have a natural aptitude for maintaining
a low profile and are able to lead a normal life as students or in some
occupation without attracting attention to themselves. In the case of the
Mumbai blasts of March,1993, the perpetrators were easily identified by the
Police because many of them except Dawood Ibrahim were normal residents of
Mumbai and not from outside. Their get-away from Mumbai after the explosions
attracted the suspicion of the Police.

A new modus operandi (MO) for attacks on soft targets noticed in recent
years is the use of unconscious bombers by the sleeper cells so that the
explosions cannot be easily traced back by the Police to the real
perpetrators. The ULFA in Assam has been periodically using this MO by
paying unsuspecting individuals for leaving bicycles fitted with IEDs in
markets and other crowded areas. Al Qaeda was reported to have used this MO
in Casablanca in May,2003, and in Baghdad on February 1, 2008. In
Casablanca, an unsuspecting individual was asked to carry a package
containing a remote-controlled IED to a third person. As the carrier was
walking in front of a restaurant the IED was activated through remote
control. In Baghdad, two mentally disturbed women, who used to beg in market
places, were fitted with IEDs and these were exploded through remote control
as they were begging in the markets. The Chechens had also used this M.O.

There are various reasons for which terrorists periodically attack soft
targets in widely dispersed areas. Firstly, they want to demonstrate their
reach. They want to show that they can operate in any part of the country in
the case of indigenous organizations and in any part of the world in the
case of the pan-Islamic jihadi organizations. Outside J&K, t

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