Attackers use vehicles as weapons against crowds

Attackers use vehicles as weapons against crowds

As a US veteran with the intention of arranging a bloodbath, steering a 2,700 kilogram pickup truck in a crowd in New Orleans, the massacre followed a worrying trend: attackers use vehicles to run over innocent civilians

The alarming trend of vehicle handles

In recent years there have been over a dozen top-class Vehicles on human quantities . While many of these attacks result from radical-religious beliefs, others have presumably committed by white nationalists or extreme right-wing extremists.

Why do attackers choose vehicles as fatal weapons?

The FBI determines how the attacker from New Orleans-a former personnel employee and army veteran, who served in Afghanistan-was apparently radicalized. The perpetrator, Shamsud-Din Jabbar, had an ISIS flag on the truck during the massacre. Before he was shot by the police, the man from Texas had recorded videos in which he had via his Isis spoke.

The motives behind the attacks

Jabbar said in the videos that he first wanted to kill his family, but then decided to change his plan to steer the headlines on the "war between believers and unbelievers", said an FBI officer.

radical Islamist terrorist groups aqap , the al-Qaida branch in Yemen, have long called for heavy vehicles as fatal weapons.

The psychological effects of vehicle handles

A vehicle reversal does not require a special training, explains CNN security expert Peter Bergen. "You just rent or buy a vehicle and use it as a weapon." After an attack, frightening images of covered corpses and scattered personal objects often leave a deep psychological impression, which in turn supports the goals of the perpetrator.

Examples of devastating vehicle reversals

Here are some of the deadliest vehicle ripers in recent years:

Magdeburg, Germany

Date of the attack: December 20, 2024
number of victims: Five dead and what happened: A car drove to a busy Christmas market. The victims were between 9 and 75 years old. The suspect, Taleb al Abdulmohsen, was arrested at the scene.
why it happened: The authorities have not yet confirmed the motif, but al Abdulmohsen had previously had a cryptic"> Message published in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with the immigration laws.

Waukesha, Wisconsin

Date of the attack: November 21, 2021
number of victims: six deaths and over 60 injured
what happened: The driver of an SUV intentionally drove to a Christmas parade. The suspect, Darrell E. Brooks, had been sitting and was already under supervision because of a similar crime.
Why it happened: The motif remains unclear, Brooks argued that it could be a technical defect.

New York City

Date of the attack: October 31, 2017
number of victims: eight deaths and about a dozen injured
what happened: The driver of a rented truck ran over pedestrians on the West Side Highway. The suspect, Sayfullo Saipov, was detained and confronted with several serious charges.
Why it happened: Saipov indicated that I was inspired by ISIS videos to cause maximum damage to civilians.

Barcelona, ​​Spain

Date of the attack: August 17, 2017
number of victims: at least 14 dead and more than 100 injured
what happened: a van raced into the crowd on the popular promenade las ramblas. The attack was called "jihadist terrorism".

Charlottesville, Virginia

Date of the attack: August 12, 2017
number of victims: a dead and 19 injured
what happened: During a "Unite the Right" demonstration, a driver targeted a group of counter-demonstrators. The victim was the 32-year-old activist Heather Heyer.
Why did it happen: The driver confessed that he had intentionally attacked the group because of their breed and religion.

London

Date of the attack: June 3, 2017
number of victims: eight dead and more than 40 injured
what happened: Three men drove with a van in pedestrians on the London Bridge before organizing a massacre in nearby bars with knives.
Why it happened: The attackers were identified as members of a radical group and ISIS took responsibility.

Stockholm, Sweden

Date of the attack: April 7, 2017
number of victims: five deaths and about a dozen injured
what happened: A stolen truck raced onto a busy shopping street and crashed into a department store.
Why it happened: The attacker had connections to extremist groups, including ISIS.

Jerusalem

Date of the attack: January 8, 2017
number of victims: four soldiers dead and at least 10 injuries
what happened: A 28-year-old ran over a group of Israeli soldiers.
Why it happened: The driver could have been a sympathizer of ISIS, the authorities reported.

Berlin

Date of the attack: December 19, 2016
number of victims: twelve deaths and at least 48 injuries
what happened: A truck raced into a crowd at a Christmas market. The suspect was later killed in a shootout with the police.
Why it happened: A video showed the perpetrator who swears loyalty, while Isis described the attack as an act of a "soldier of the Islamic state".

Columbus, Ohio

Date of the attack: November 28, 2016
number of victims: 11 injured
what happened: A student of Ohio State University raced into a group of pedestrians by car, then attacked passers -by with a knife.
Why did it happen: The authorities believe that the attacker was inspired by terrorist propaganda.

Nice, France

Date of the attack: July 14, 2016
number of victims: 84 dead and more than 200 injuries
what happened: A 20-ton truck ran over hundreds of people during the national holiday in Nice.
Why it happened: Isis claimed that the attack was a retaliation for France's commitment in the fight against IS.