Citation

Ezeihuoma OP. J. Crime Crim. Behav. 2023; 3(1): 155-178.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Academic Research Foundations (ARF))

DOI

10.47509/JCCB.2023.v03i01.09

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Studies have continued to identify the sensational role of the media in the propagation of terror-related suicide attacks. Commonly regarded as a rare occurrence, imitating or copycatting suicide attacks from Middle East has become a tactic in the arsenal of attacks by the Boko Haram terrorist group in Nigeria. Thus, there is a shifting in landscape of suicide terrorism from Middle East to West Africa. Using data drawn from the Chicago Project on Security and Threats (CPOST) and the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), this paper examined and found a positive correlation between incidents of suicide attacks in Iraq and the incidents of suicide terrorist attacks perpetrated by Boko Haram in Nigeria from 2012-2016. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to compare the incidents of suicide attacks in Iraq and Syria in the Middle East and in Nigeria around the Lake Chad basin region of West Africa (at the intersection of Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon) in a bid to analyze the differences, copycat effects, and suicide clusters that emerged as a result of these groupings. Concurrently, the results show that there are no significant differences of copycat effects in the execution of the suicide attacks in Iraq, Syria, and Nigeria, but suicide clusters (waves) were not uncovered in Nigeria. The results will help to develop proactive measures on how to curb, understand, and predict the determinants and lethality of future suicide terrorist attacks, the operational and demographic trends of bombers, and the use of women and children/teenage bombers by Boko Haram.

Language: en