Why terrorists target children: outbidding, desperation, and extremism in the Peshawar and Beslan school massacres

Why do terrorists engage in behavior that is extreme even by their own admission—killing children? This behavior poses a major puzzle to our understanding of terrorism, but it has been surprisingly underexplored. This article addresses the question of why terrorists intentionally target children wit...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Biberman, Yelena (Author) ; Zahid, Farhan (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
In: Terrorism and political violence
Year: 2019, Volume: 31, Issue: 2, Pages: 169-184
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Beslan school siege
Children
Peshawar school massacre
Russo-Chechen War
Schools
Description
Summary:Why do terrorists engage in behavior that is extreme even by their own admission—killing children? This behavior poses a major puzzle to our understanding of terrorism, but it has been surprisingly underexplored. This article addresses the question of why terrorists intentionally target children with a comparative study of the two deadliest attacks in which children were deliberately targeted by a militant organization: the Peshawar (2014) and Beslan (2004) school massacres. The article identifies two factors that increase the likelihood that a terrorist group will target children. The first is the presence of internal rifts within an already highly violent organization. This is likely to trigger outbidding and, thus, result in more brutal attacks. The second is existentially threatening external pressure, which seriously weakens the group and, thus, leads it to select soft and shocking targets, such as schools. The findings are based on evidence drawn from primary and secondary sources, including interviews conducted in Peshawar and Islamabad, Pakistan, and Moscow, Russia.
Item Description:Gesehen am 14.11.2023
Published online: 09 Feb 2016
Physical Description:Illustration
ISSN:1556-1836
DOI:10.1080/09546553.2015.1135425