Stabbing as a terrorist tactic

Stabbing attacks became an increasingly common form of terrorist attack on random civilians in the 21st century, in particular during the 2010s and 2020s.

Like the vehicle-ramming attacks that increased during the same time period, stabbing attacks are prevalent because attackers can easily obtain knives and other stabbing instruments.

Causes propelling the rise of the tactic

According to security analyst Peter Bergen, stabbing attacks have gained popularity because such attacks are inexpensive and easy to carry out, but very difficult for security services to prevent.[1]

Incitement by terrorist groups

In May 2016, Al-Qaeda's Inspire published an article entitled. “O Knife Revolution, Head Toward America.”[2] The magazine urged Muslims to kill “the intelligentsia, economic and influential personalities of America,” by low-tech methods including stabbing attacks on the grounds that such assaults are “easy options that do not require huge efforts or man power, but the result is parallel to the big operations or even more.”[2][3]

In October 2016, Rumiyah, the online propaganda and recruitment magazine published by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) told followers that holy warriors down through Muslim history have “struck the necks of the kuffar” in the name of Allah, with "swords, severing limbs and piercing the fleshy meat of those who opposed Islam.” The magazine advised its readers that knives are easy to obtain, easy to hide, and deadly, and that they make good weapons in places where Muslims might be regarded with suspicion.[4][3]

History

A wave of lone wolf terrorist stabbing attacks in which Palestinian Arabs attacked Israelis began on 3 October 2015 with the first of the Lions' Gate stabbings.[5] The ensuing 2015–2016 wave of violence in Israeli-Palestinian conflict is thought to have been driven not by formal organizations but, rather by social media postings inspiring young Palestinians to undertake attacks with knives and with vehicles.[6][5][7][8] In response, Israeli police have revamped their anti-terrorism tactics, increasing monitoring of social media, improving the intercommunication of mobile devices, and giving security agencies the ability to instantly trace phone calls made from such devices.[9]

The series of Palestinian stabbing attacks were followed by the spread of such attacks during the wave of Islamic terrorism in Europe (2014–present) which had seen "at least" 10 stabbing attacks allegedly motivated by Islamic extremism in Europe by the spring of 2017, with a particular concentration of such attacks in France.[10][11] A number of cases have also occurred in the United States during this period, including the St. Cloud, Minnesota, mall stabbing and the Ohio State University attack.

List of terrorism-related stabbing attacks

Date	Incident	Location
2010	Stabbing of Stephen Timms	Britain
2011	Tel Aviv nightclub attack	Israel
2013	La Défense attack	France
2013	Murder of Lee Rigby	Britain
2013	Tapuah Junction stabbing	West Bank
2014	Queens hatchet attack	United States
2014	Endeavour Hills stabbings	Australia
2014	Alon Shvut stabbing attack	West Bank
2014	Murder of Ibolya Ryan	Emirates
2014	Kunming attack	China
2014	Tours police station stabbing	France
2015	Nice stabbing attack	France
2015	Lions' Gate stabbings	West Bank
2015	University of California, Merced stabbing attack	United States
2015	Tel Aviv synagogue stabbing	Israel
2015	Avijit Roy	Bangladesh
2015	Tel Aviv attacks	Israel
2016	Hurghada attack	Egypt
2016	Hanover stabbing	Germany
2016	Murder of Hallel Yaffa Ariel	West Bank
2016	Stabbing of Brussels police officers	Brussels, Belgium
2016	Stabbing of Charleroi police officers	Charleroi, Belgium
2016	Magnanville stabbing	France
2016	Normandy church attack	France
2016	Ohio machete attack	United States
2016	Paris police station attack	Paris
2016	Würzburg train attack	Würzburg, Germany
2016	Munich knife attack	Munich, Germany
2016	Ohio State University attack	United States
2016	Minto stabbing attack	Australia
2017	Westminster attack	London
2017	Paris machete attack	Paris
2017	Jerusalem Light Rail stabbing	Israel
2017	Queanbeyan stabbing attacks	Australia
2017	London Bridge attack	London
2017	Notre Dame attack	Paris
2017	Jerusalem attack	West Bank
2017	Bishop International Airport incident	United States
2017	Hurghada attack	Egypt
2017	Halamish stabbing attack	West Bank
2017	Marseille stabbing	France
2017	Turku stabbing	Turku, Finland
2017	Hamburg stabbing	Hamburg, Germany
2018	2018 Ariel stabbing	West Bank
2018	2018 Vienna embassy stabbing	Austria
2018	2018 Paris knife attack	France
2018	2018 Liège attack	Belgium
2018	Flensburg stabbing incident	Germany
2018	Lübeck bus attack	Germany
2018	Amsterdam train station attack	Amsterdam, Netherlands
2018	2018 Melbourne stabbing attack	Australia
2018	Murders of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland	Morocco
2019	Paris police headquarters stabbing	Paris, France
2019	2019 London Bridge attack	London, United Kingdom
2020	2020 Romans-sur-Isère knife attack	Romans-sur-Isère, France

See also

• Vehicle-ramming attack
• Pressure cooker bomb
• Suicide terrorism

References

1. Bergen, Peter (22 March 2017). "London shows the challenge of preventing low-tech terror". CNN. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
2. "Latest Issue of Inspire Magazine Encourages Small Scale Attacks". ADL. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
3. Johnson, Bridget (6 October 2016). "ISIS Call for Stabbing Sprees a Nightmare Scenario for Stopping Terror Plots". New York Observer. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
4. Wright, Robin (26 November 2016). "The Hand of ISIS at Ohio State". The New Yorker. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
5. Wedeman, Ben (15 October 2015). "Israeli-Palestinian violence: What you need to know". CNN. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
6. Booth, William (25 December 2015). "Israelis are calling attacks a 'new kind of Palestinian terrorism'". Washington Post. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
7. "U.S. House Panel Unanimously Votes to Condemn Palestinian Incitement". Haaretz.com. 2015-10-24.
8. Hatovely, Tzipi (31 January 2016). "Palestinian Incitement: Hate-Speech That Kills". Newsweek. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
9. Fox, Robert (27 June 2017). "Israel changes tactics to tackle street terror". London Evening Standard.
10. Jenkins, Nash (19 December 2016). "A Timeline of Recent Terrorist Attacks in Europe". Time. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
11. Rubin, Alissa (5 October 2016). "2 Brussels Police Officers Are Stabbed in 'Potential Terrorist Attack'". New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2017.