Research Note: Observations Of Suicidal Terrorists In Action

11 September woke the world up to the scourge of the twenty-first century—suicidal terrorism. Hostage-taking coupled with suicidal terrorism is its newest variant, played out in a Moscow theater in late October 2002. Forty Chechen terrorists armed with automatic rifles, grenades and self-detonating bombs announced to 800 plus hostages that the event was a suicide mission. The standoff ended when Russian Special Forces gassed and stormed the building, killing all the terrorists. Suicidal terrorists are rarely, if ever, observed in action. In the first months after the event, an American psychologist collaborated with Russian Academy of Sciences colleagues to collect interviews from the hostages. This article reports on hostages’ observations, interactions and conversations with the 40 suicidal terrorists.