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Assassination

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Assassination



 
 
Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure. Assassinations may be prompted by ideological
Ideology

An ideology is a set of aims and ideas, especially in politics. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society....
, political
Politics

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporation, academia, and religion institutions....
, or military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain
Contract killing

Contract killing is the concept of a private contractor or a government hiring someone to kill a specific person or persons for a sum of money....
, revenge
Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punishment focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one....
, or personal public recognition
Celebrity

A celebrity is a widely-recognized or notable person who commands a high degree of public and media attention. The word stems from the Latin verb "celebrare" but one may not become a celebrity unless public and mass media interest is piqued....
 or may be mentally ill.

The euphemism
Euphemism

A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of #Doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker....
 targeted killing (or extrajudicial punishment/execution) is also used for the government-sanctioned killing of opponents.

In figurative language usage, the word "assassination" may also be used in colloquial speech as a hyperbole
Hyperbole

Hyperbole comes from ancient Greek "?pe?????" and is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is rarely meant to be taken literally....
, as in the phrase character assassination, meaning an attempt to impugn another's character, and thus kill, or "assassinate" his reputation and credibility.

Etymology
The term 'Assassin' derives from the Persian word Hashshashin
Hashshashin

The Hashshashin from which the word Assassinations is thought to originate, was the Persian Empire derived designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismailism Shia Islam during the Middle Ages....
 (Ar: ?????? \ ????? ????????), a militant Ismaili
Ismaili

Ismailism is a branch of the Islam, and is the second largest part of the Shia Islam community, after the mainstream Twelvers . The Ismaili get their name from their acceptance of Ismail bin Jafar as the divinely appointed spiritual successor to Jafar al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelvers, who accept Musa al-Kazim, younger bro...
 Persian Muslim sect, active in the Northern parts of Iran (Alamut) from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries.






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Timeline

1152   Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, only days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.

1570   The assassination of regent James Stewart, Earl of Moray throws Scotland into civil war.

1803   Edward Despard and six others are hanged, drawn and quartered for plotting to assassinate king George III and to destroy the Bank of England

1835   Unsuccessful assassination attempt against President Andrew Jackson in the United States Capitol - first assassination attempt against a President of the United States.

1861   President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.

1952   Failed assassination attempt against Konrad Adenauer

1963   John F. Kennedy assassination: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.

1978   Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, is sentenced to death by hanging for ordering the assassination of a political opponent.

1978   In San Francisco, California, Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.

1994   New South Wales State MP for Cabramatta John Newman is shot outside his home in Australia's first political assassination since 1977.







Encyclopedia


Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure. Assassinations may be prompted by ideological
Ideology

An ideology is a set of aims and ideas, especially in politics. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society....
, political
Politics

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporation, academia, and religion institutions....
, or military
Military

A military is an organization authorized by its nation to use force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or Threat of force ....
 reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by financial gain
Contract killing

Contract killing is the concept of a private contractor or a government hiring someone to kill a specific person or persons for a sum of money....
, revenge
Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punishment focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one....
, or personal public recognition
Celebrity

A celebrity is a widely-recognized or notable person who commands a high degree of public and media attention. The word stems from the Latin verb "celebrare" but one may not become a celebrity unless public and mass media interest is piqued....
 or may be mentally ill.

The euphemism
Euphemism

A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of #Doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker....
 targeted killing (or extrajudicial punishment/execution) is also used for the government-sanctioned killing of opponents.

In figurative language usage, the word "assassination" may also be used in colloquial speech as a hyperbole
Hyperbole

Hyperbole comes from ancient Greek "?pe?????" and is a figure of speech in which statements are exaggerated. It may be used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression, but is rarely meant to be taken literally....
, as in the phrase character assassination, meaning an attempt to impugn another's character, and thus kill, or "assassinate" his reputation and credibility.

Etymology


The term 'Assassin' derives from the Persian word Hashshashin
Hashshashin

The Hashshashin from which the word Assassinations is thought to originate, was the Persian Empire derived designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismailism Shia Islam during the Middle Ages....
 (Ar: ?????? \ ????? ????????), a militant Ismaili
Ismaili

Ismailism is a branch of the Islam, and is the second largest part of the Shia Islam community, after the mainstream Twelvers . The Ismaili get their name from their acceptance of Ismail bin Jafar as the divinely appointed spiritual successor to Jafar al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelvers, who accept Musa al-Kazim, younger bro...
 Persian Muslim sect, active in the Northern parts of Iran (Alamut) from the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. This mystic secret society
Secret society

Secret society is a term used to describe a variety of organizations. Although the exact meaning of the term is disputed, several of the definitions advanced indicate a degree of secrecy and secret knowledge, which might include denying membership or knowledge of the group, negative consequences for acknowledging one's membership, strong ties...
 killed members of the Abbasid
Abbasid

The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic Caliphates of the Islamic Empire. The Caliphate is one of the high points of Islam, and at the time Muslim civilization, together with that of Byzantium, China and India, was the most developed part of the world....
 and Seljuq
Seljuq dynasty

The Seljuq were a Turco-Persian Sunni Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries. They set up an empire known as Great Seljuq Empire that stretched from Anatolia through Persia and was the target of the First Crusade....
 élite for political and religious reasons.

It is believed that the assassins were under the influence of hashish
Hashish

Hashish is a preparation of cannabis composed of the compressed trichomes collected from the cannabis plant. It contains the same active ingredients but in higher concentrations than other parts of the plant such as the buds or the leaves....
 and opium
Opium

Opium is a narcotic formed from the latex released by lacerating the immature seed pods of Opium poppy . It contains up to 12% morphine, an opiate alkaloid, which is most frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade....
 during their killings or during their indoctrination, and that assassin derives from hasishin, the influence of the drugs. However, this is only partly true. At the time of their existence "Hashashins" were people who sold medicine. The region of Alamut was filled with plants rich with natural medicine and many of the residents of that region made a living by selling those plants at Bazaars (Marketplaces) that were called Bazare Hashashin (The medicine market). Due to their advanced medicine during that period, they were able to offer free health care to their citizens. Also many people in Iran would travel to the region of Alamut to get cured for unknown illnesses.

The earliest known literary use of the term "assassination" is in The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
 (1605).

Definition problem

The definition of "assassination" varies among sources. The American Heritage Dictionary defines "to assassinate" thus:

... to murder
Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
 [a prominent person] by surprise attack, as for political reasons
;
however, the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989; as of December 2008 the dictionary's current editors have completed a quarter of the third edition....
's definition is:

The action of assassinating; the taking the life of any one by treacherous violence, esp. by a hired emissary, or one who has taken upon him to execute the deed.


There is dispute whether the term assassination should include killings wherein the primary motivation is attracting attention to a political cause, and wherein the victim is of secondary importance (and might be famous, but unrelated to the dispute, or even an unknown). This leads to a number of possible definitions - which may however not all apply in any specific case:

  • the killing of someone by treacherous
    Betrayal

    Betrayal, a form of deception or dismissal of prior presumptions, is the breaking or violation of a presumptive social contract that produces morality and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations....
     violence
  • the killing of someone in the public view (i.e. someone notable)
  • the killing of someone for political, moral, or ideological reasons


For the purposes of this article, the third definition predominates, even though the second is often used, and the first would often be found in colloquial use.

Use in history


Ancient to medieval times


Assassination is one of the oldest tools of power politics
Power politics

Power politics, or Machtpolitik , is a state of international relations in which sovereigntys protect their own interests by threatening one another with military, economic, or political aggression....
, dating back at least as far as recorded history. Perhaps the earliest recorded instance is the murder around 586 BCE of Gedaliah
Gedaliah

According to the Hebrew Bible, Gedaliah - the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan served briefly as governor of Judea. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon appointed Gedaliah as governor of Judah and left him to govern the country as a tribute to him ....
, described by Jeremiah
Jeremiah

Jeremiah was one of the 'greater prophet' of the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth.His writings are put together in the Book of Jeremiah and, according to tradition, the Book of Lamentations....
 and lamented by Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s to this day in the Fast of Gedaliah. Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon

Philip II of Macedon,...
, the father of Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
, and Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

'Gaius Julius Caesar' , July 13, 100 BC ? March 15, 44 BC,) was a Roman Republic military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
 can be noted as famous victims. Emperors of Rome often met their end in this way, as did many of the Shia Imams. The practice was also well-known in ancient China
History of China

China civilization originated in various city-states along the Yellow River valley in the Neolithic era. The written history of China begins with the Shang Dynasty ....
. An example of this is Jing Ke
Jing Ke

Jing Ke was a guest residing in the estates of Dan, crown prince of Yan and renowned for his failed assassination of the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang who reigned from 221 BC to 210 BC....
's failed assassination of Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang

Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese Qin from 246 BCE to 221 BCE during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BCE....
. The ancient Indian
History of India

The known history of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent, from c....
 military adviser Chanakya
Chanakya

Chanakya was an adviser and a prime minister to the first Maurya Empire Emperor Chandragupta Maurya , and architect of his rise to power. Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the ancient Indian political treatise called the Arthasastra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chanakya....
 wrote about assassinations in detail in his political treatise Arthashastra
Arthashastra

The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on Public administration, economics policy and military strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and , who are traditionally identified with Chanakya , who was a professor at Taxila and later the prime minister of the Maurya Empire....
.

The Old Testament story of Judith illustrates how a woman frees the Israelites by tricking and assassinating Holofernes, the war-lord of the rival Assyrians with whom the Israelites were at war.

In the Middle Ages
Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, regicide
Regicide

The broad definition of regicide is the deliberate killing of a monarch, or the person responsible for the killing of a monarch. In a narrower sense, in the United Kingdom tradition, it refers to the judicial execution of a king after alleged due process of law....
 was rare, but with the Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
, tyrannicide
Tyrannicide

Tyrannicide literally means the killing of a tyrant. Typically, the term is taken to mean the killing or assassination of tyrants for the common good....
 – or assassination for personal or political reasons - became more common again. The reigns of French kings Henry III
Henry III of France

Henry III of France , born Alexandre-?douard de Valois-Angoul?me, was King of France from 1574 to 1589, and as Henry of Valois, first elected List of Polish rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and List of Lithuanian rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1574....
 and Henry IV,
Henry IV of France

Henry de Bourbon, , ruled as Henry III, List of Navarrese monarchs, from 1572 to 1610, and as Henry IV, List of French monarchs, from 1589 to 1610....
 and William the Silent
William the Silent

William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was born in the House of Nassau as a count of Nassau ....
 of the Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 ended with assassination.

In modern history


As the world moved into the modern day, the killing of important people began to become more than a tool in power struggles between rulers themselves, and was also used for political symbolism, such as in the propaganda of the deed
Propaganda of the deed

Propaganda of the deed is a concept that promotes physical violence against political enemies as a way of inspiring the masses and catalyzing revolution....
. In Russia alone, four emperors were assassinated within less than 200 years: Ivan VI
Ivan VI of Russia

Ivan VI Antonovich of Russia , , reigned as Emperor of Russia 1740 - 1741. He was born in Saint Petersburg to Prince Anthony Ulrich II, Duke of Brunswick-L?neburg and the princess Anna Leopoldovna of Mecklenburg....
, Peter III
Peter III of Russia

Peter III was Emperor of Russian Empire for six months in 1762. According to most historians, he was mentally immature and very pro-Prussian, which made him an unpopular leader....
, Paul I
Paul I of Russia

Paul was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801....
, and Alexander II
Alexander II of Russia

Alexander II Nikolaevich , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the List of Russian rulers of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881....
.

In the U.S.
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, four presidents, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln assassination

The assassination of Abraham Lincoln, one of the last major events in the American Civil War, took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, when President of the United States Abraham Lincoln was shot while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre with his Mary Todd Lincoln and two guests....
, James Garfield
James A. Garfield assassination

James A. Garfield was shot in Washington, DC on July 2, 1881 by Charles J. Guiteau at 9:30 a.m., less than four months after taking office as the twentieth President of the United States....
, William McKinley
William McKinley assassination

The William McKinley assassination occurred on September 6, 1901, at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, New York. United States President of the United States William McKinley, attending the Pan-American Exposition, was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, an Anarchism....
, and John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy assassination

The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States of the United States, took place on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, Texas, at 12:30 p.m....
 died at the hands of assassins, while many other presidents survived attempts on their lives.

In Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbia
Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country in Central Europe and Balkans Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central part of the Balkans....
n nationalist insurgent
Insurgent

Insurgent, insurgents or insurgency can refer to:*The act of Insurgency*Iraqi insurgency, uprising in Iraq*USS Insurgent , US Navy ship...
s is blamed for igniting World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
 after a succession of minor conflicts, while belligerents on both sides in World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 used operatives specifically trained for assassination. Reinhard Heydrich
Reinhard Heydrich

Reinhard Tristan Eugen Heydrich was an Schutzstaffel-Obergruppenf?hrer und General der Polizei, chief of the RSHA and Stellvertretender Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia....
 was killed by Czech partisan
Partisan

Partisan may refer to:...
 killers, and knowledge from decoded transmissions allowed the U.S. to carry out a targeted attack
Death of Isoroku Yamamoto

Operation Vengeance was carried out to kill Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on April 18, 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II of World War II....
, killing Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
ese Admiral
Admiral

Admiral is the military rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral....
 Isoroku Yamamoto
Isoroku Yamamoto

Admiral of the Fleet was the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and a student of the U.S....
 while he was travelling by airplane. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born Germany politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party....
, meanwhile, was almost killed by his own officers, and survived various attempts by other persons and organizations (such as Operation Foxley
Operation Foxley

Operation Foxley was a 1944 plan to assassination Adolf Hitler, created by the United Kingdom Special Operations Executive . Although detailed preparations were made, the plan was not carried out....
, though this plan was never put into practice).

India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
's "Father of the Nation", Mohandas K. Gandhi, was shot to death on January 30, 1948 by Nathuram Godse
Nathuram Godse

Nathuram Vinayak Godse was the assassin of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi....
. In the Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
, Benigno Aquino, Jr.
Benigno Aquino, Jr.

Benigno Servillano Aquino, Jr. , popularly known as Ninoy Aquino or Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., was a former Philippine Senate of the Philippines, governor, vice governor and mayor and a leader of the opposition to the rule of Ferdinand Marcos....
, opposition
Opposition

* Opposition , a term describing the position of a celestial body* Opposition , a term describing the position of the kings relative to each other* Opposition proceeding, an administrative process available under some patent or trademark laws...
 leader and top critic of Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edral?n Marcos was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate ....
, was shot dead by alleged assassin Rolando Galman as he arrived at Manila International Airport from a three-year exile in the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, with the death sometimes hailed as the catalyst of the 1986 People Power Revolution that toppled Marcos' 20-year dictatorship
Dictatorship

A dictatorship is usually defined as an Autocracy form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator, without hereditary ascension....
.

Cold War and beyond


During the Cold War
Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between a number of world powers, including the United States, the Soviet Union, People's Republic of China, France, United Kingdom and those countries' respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s....
, there was a dramatic new increase in the number of political assassinations, likely due to the ideological
Ideology

An ideology is a set of aims and ideas, especially in politics. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things , as in common sense and several philosophical tendencies , or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society....
 polarization of most of the First
First World

The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide nations into three broad categories. The three terms did not arise simultaneously....
 and Second world
Second World

The term "Second World" is a phrase that was used to describe the Communist states within the Soviet Union's sphere of influence or those countries that had centrally-planned economies....
s, whose adherents were often more than willing to both justify and finance such killings.

Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister
Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
 of Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
 was assassinated by Saad Akbar
Saad Akbar

Saad Akbar Babrak , an Afghan of Pashtun ethnicity, assassinated the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaqat Ali Khan. Akbar belonged to the same Zadran tribe as Pacha Khan Zadran....
, a lone assassin in 1951. Conspiracy theorists believe his conflict with certain members of the Pakistani military (Rawalpindi conspiracy) or suppression of Communists and antagonism towards the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
, were potential reasons for his assassination.

The U.S. Senate Select Committee chaired by Senator Frank Church
Frank Church

Frank Forrester Church III was a United States Senate from Idaho, serving four terms from 1957 to 1981. Church was a member of the Idaho Democratic Party....
 (the Church Committee
Church Committee

The Church Committee is the common term referring to the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, a United States Senate committee chaired by Senator Frank Church in 1975....
) reported in 1975 that it had found "concrete evidence of at least eight plots involving the CIA to assassinate Fidel Castro from 1960 to 1965."

Most major powers were not long in repudiating Cold War assassination tactics, though many allege that this was merely a smokescreen for political benefit and that covert and illegal training of assassins continues today, with Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, and other nations accused of still regularly engaging in such operations. In 1986, U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
 (who survived an assassination attempt himself) ordered the Operation El Dorado Canyon
Operation El Dorado Canyon

The United States bombing of Libya comprised the joint United States United States Air Force, United States Navy and United States Marine Corps air-strikes against Libya on April 15, 1986....
 air raid on Libya
Libya

Libya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Libya lies between Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
 in which one of the primary targets was the home residence of Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar al-Gaddafi

Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi#Name also known as Colonel Gaddafi has been the de facto leader of Libya since a 1969 coup....
. Gaddafi escaped unharmed; however, his adopted daughter Hanna was one of the civilian casualties.
Shot Dead On Arrival
In the Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
, the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr.
Benigno Aquino, Jr.

Benigno Servillano Aquino, Jr. , popularly known as Ninoy Aquino or Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., was a former Philippine Senate of the Philippines, governor, vice governor and mayor and a leader of the opposition to the rule of Ferdinand Marcos....
 triggered the eventual downfall of the 20-year autocratic rule of President
President of the Philippines

File:Flag President of Philippines.pngThe President of the Philippines is the head of state and government of the Philippines. The President of the Philippines in Filipino is referred to as Ang Pangulo or Pangulo ....
 Ferdinand Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos

Ferdinand Emmanuel Edral?n Marcos was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate ....
. Aquino, a former Senator
Senate of the Philippines

The Senate of the Philippines is the upper chamber of the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, the Congress of the Philippines. The Philippine Senate is composed of 24 senators who are elected at-large....
 and a leading figure of the political opposition, was assassinated in 1983 at the Manila
Manila

The 'City of Manila' , or simply 'Manila', is the Capital of the Philippines and one of the 17 cities and municipalities that make up Metro Manila....
 International Airport
International airport

An international airport is an airport typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle international flights to and from other countries....
 (now the Ninoy Aquino International Airport
Ninoy Aquino International Airport

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport or NAIA , is the airport serving the general area of Manila and its surrounding Metro Manila. Located along the border between Pasay City and Para?aque City, about seven kilometers south of Manila proper, and southwest of Makati City, NAIA is the main international gateway for travelers to the P...
) upon returning home from exile
Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return....
. His death thrust his widow, Corazon Aquino
Corazon Aquino

Mar?a Coraz?n Cojuangco-Aquino , widely known as Cory Aquino, was the 11th President of the Philippines, serving from 1986 to 1992. She was the first female President of the Philippines and was Asia first female President....
, into the limelight and, ultimately, the presidency following the peaceful 1986 EDSA Revolution
1986 EDSA Revolution

The People Power Revolution was a series of nonviolence and prayerful mass street Demonstration s in the Philippines that occurred in 1986. It is sometimes referred to as the Yellow Revolution due to the presence of yellow ribbons during the arrival of Ninoy Aquino....
.

On August 17, 1988 President of Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
 Gen. M. Zia ul Haq died along with his staff and the American Ambassador to Pakistan when his C-130 transport plane exploded in mid-air after taking off from Bahawalpur
Bahawalpur

Bahawalpur is the capital city of Bahawalpur District located in , Punjab, Pakistan Pakistan. The population according to the 1998 census was 403,408, Saraiki , Punjabi language are the local languages of the area while Urdu and English are also spoken....
 because of an on-board bomb. The CIA, KGB and Indian secret service RAW all have been implicated by various conspiracy theorists.

Various dictators around the world, such as Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003.A leading member of the revolutionary Ba'ath Party, which espoused secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to long-term power....
, have also used assassination to remove individual opponents, or to terrorize troublesome population
Population

File:Population density.pngIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings....
 groups. In return, in post-Saddam Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, the Shiite-dominated government has used death squads to perform countless extrajudicial executions of radical Sunni Iraqis, with some alleging that the death squads were trained by the U.S.

In India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
, Prime Ministers
Prime Minister of India

The Prime Minister of India is the head of government of the India, and head of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of India, appointed by the President of India to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the Executive in India....
 Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977and for a fourth term from 1980 until her Assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, a total of fifteen years....
 and Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi

Rajiv Gandhi ; 20 August 1944 ? 21 May 1991), the elder son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi, was the 9th Prime Minister of India of India from his mother's death on 31 October 1984 until his resignation on 2 December 1989 following a general election defeat....
 (neither of whom were related to Mohandas Gandhi, who was assassinated in 1948), were assassinated in 1984 and 1991. The assassinations were linked to separatist movements in Punjab and northern Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India....
, respectively.

In Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Israel

The Prime Minister of Israel is the head of the Israeli government and is the most powerful political officer in Israel . He or she wields executive power in the country, and has an official residence in Jerusalem....
 Yitzhak Rabin
Yitzhak Rabin

was an Israeli politician and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977 and 1992 until his assassination in 1995....
 was assassinated on November 4, 1995. Yigal Amir
Yigal Amir

Yigal Amir is the Israeli assassin of Prime Minister of Israel Yitzhak Rabin. The assassination took place November 4, 1995 at the conclusion of a Demonstration in Tel Aviv....
 confessed and was convicted of the crime. Many questions
Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories

Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories arose almost immediately following Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister, on November 4, 1995....
 were subsequently raised about the actual cause of and rationale for his death.

In Lebanon
Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of Lebanon or Lebanese Republic , is a country in Western Asia, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea....
, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
Rafik Hariri

Rafik Bahaa El Deen Al-Hariri — , was a self-made billionaire and business tycoon, was List of Prime Ministers of Lebanon of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation, 20 October 2004....
 on February 14, 2005, prompted an investigation by the United Nations
United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
. The suggestions in the resulting Mehlis report
Mehlis report

The Mehlis Report is the result of the United Nations' investigation into the 14 February 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri....
, that there was Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
n involvement, prompted the Cedar Revolution
Cedar Revolution

The Cedar Revolution or Independence Intifada was a chain of demonstrations in Lebanon triggered by the assassination of former List of Prime Ministers of Lebanon Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005....
 which drove Syrian troops out of Lebanon.

In Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
, former prime minister and opposition leader Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party , a centre-left List of political parties in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim world, having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan ....
 was assassinated in 2007, while in the process of running for re-election. Bhutto's assassination drew unanimous condemnation from the international community.

In Guinea Bissau, President Joăo Bernardo Vieira
Joăo Bernardo Vieira

Jo?o Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was the Heads of State of Guinea-Bissau of Guinea-Bissau from 1980 to 1999 and again from 2005 to 2009. After seizing power in 1980, Vieira ruled for 19 years, and he won a multiparty presidential election in 1994....
 was assassinated in the early hours of Monday 2 March 2009 in the capital, Bissau
Bissau

Bissau is the Capital city of Guinea-Bissau. The city's borders are conterminous with the Bissau Autonomous Sector. In 2007, the city had an estimated population of 407,424 according to the Instituto Nacional de Estat?stica e Censos....
. Unlike typical assassinations his death was not swift; first surviving an explosion at the Presidential Villa before being shot and wounded and finally butchered with machetes. His assassination was carried out by renegade soldiers who were apparently revenging the prior assassination of General Tagme Na Waie, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Guinea Bissau, who had been killed in a bomb explosion the day before.

Further motivations


As military doctrine


Assassination for military purposes has long been espoused - Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu , also called Sun Wu , is traditionally believed to be the author of The Art of War, sometimes called the Sun Tzu, an influential ancient China book on military strategy considered to be a prime example of Taoism strategy....
, writing around 500 BCE, argued in favor of using assassination in his book The Art of War
The Art of War

The Art of War is a China military science treatise that was written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategy and Military tactics of its time....
. Nearly 2000 years later Machiavelli
Niccolň Machiavelli

Niccol? di Bernardo dei Machiavelli is the philosopher, writer, and Italian politician considered the founder of modern political science. As a Renaissance Man, he was a Diplomacy, Political philosophy, musician, poet, and playwright, but, foremost, he was a Civil Servant of the Florence....
 also argued assassination could be useful in his book The Prince
The Prince

Il Principe is a politics treatise by the Florence Civil service and Political philosophy Niccol? Machiavelli. Originally called De Principatibus , it was originally written in 1513, but not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death....
. In medieval times, an army and even a nation might be based upon and around a particularly strong, canny or charismatic leader
Cult of personality

A cult of personality or personality cult arises when a country's leader uses mass media to create a heroic public image through unquestioning flattery and praise....
, whose loss could paralyze the ability of both to make war. However, in modern warfare a soldier's mindset is generally considered to surround ideals far more than specific leaders, while command structures are more flexible in replacing officer losses. While the death of a popular or successful leader often has a detrimental effect on morale, the organisational system and the belief in a specific cause is usually strong enough to enable continued warfare.

There is also the risk that the target could be replaced by an even more competent leader or that such a killing (or a failed attempt) will "martyr
Martyr

The term martyr is most commonly used today to describe an individual who sacrifices his or her life in order to further a cause or belief for many....
" a leader and support his cause (by showing the moral ruthlessness of the assassins). Faced with particularly brilliant leaders, this possibility has in various instances been risked, such as in the attempts to kill the Athenian Alcibiades
Alcibiades

Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides , was a prominent History of Athens statesman, oratory, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War....
 during the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431-404BC was an Ancient Greece military conflict, fought by Athens and its Athenian empire against the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta....
. There are a number of additional examples from World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 which show how assassination was used as a military tool at both tactical and strategic levels:

  • The American interception of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's
    Isoroku Yamamoto

    Admiral of the Fleet was the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and a student of the U.S....
     airplane during World War II, after his travel route had been decrypted.


  • The American perception that Skorzeny's
    Otto Skorzeny

    Otto Skorzeny was an Obersturmbannf?hrer in the Germany Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front , he commanded a rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity....
     commando
    Commando

    In military science, the term commando denotes an individual soldier, a military unit, and a raid . Contemporarily, commando identifies ?lite light infantry and special forces units specialised in parachuting, rappelling, and amphibious warfare to conduct and effect attacks....
    s were planning to assassinate Eisenhower
    Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Dwight David ?Ike? Eisenhower was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1953 until 1961 and a General of the Army in the United States Army....
     during the Battle of the Bulge
    Battle of the Bulge

    The Ardennes Offensive was a major German offensive launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes of Belgium , France and Luxembourg on the Western Front ....
     played havoc with Eisenhower's personal plans for some time, though it did not affect the battle itself. Skorzeny later denied in an interview with The New York Times that he had ever intended to assassinate Eisenhower during Operation Greif
    Operation Greif

    Operation Greif was a special false flag operation commanded by the notorious Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge....
     and he said that he could prove it.


  • There was a planned British commando raid to capture or kill the German General Erwin Rommel
    Erwin Rommel

    Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel , was perhaps the most famous Germany Generalfeldmarschall of World War II. He was the commander of the Afrika Korps and became known for the skillful military campaigns he waged on behalf of the Wehrmacht in North Africa....
     (also known as "The Desert Fox").


Use of assassination has continued in more recent conflicts:

  • During the Vietnam War
    Vietnam War

    The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina Wars, the Vietnam Conflict, or often in Vietnam the American War occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975....
    , partly in response to Viet Cong assassinations of government leaders, the USA
    United States

    The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
     engaged in the Phoenix Program
    Phoenix Program

    The Phoenix Program was a military, intelligence, and internal security program designed by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and coordinated and executed by Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus and US Special Operations Forces such as the Navy SEALs, United States Army Special Forces and MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War....
     to assassinate Viet Cong leaders and sympathizers, and killed between 6,000 and 41,000 persons, with official 'targets' of 1,800 per month.


  • From 1991 till 2006, Russia targeted the top commanders of the separatist groups they were fighting in Chechenya, killing several of them (including Aslan Maskhadov
    Aslan Maskhadov

    Aslan Aliyevich Maskhadov was a leader of the separatism movement and the third President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.He was credited by many with the Chechen people victory in the First Chechen War, which allowed for the establishment of the de facto independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria....
     and Shamil Basayev
    Shamil Basayev

    Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Chechen people militant Islamist, and a leader of the Chechen people separatist movement.Starting as a field commander in the Transcaucasus, Basayev led guerrilla campaigns against the Russian troops for years as well as launching mass-hostage takings of civilians with his goal being the withdrawal of Russ...
    )


  • During World War II, underground factions sympathizing with the Allies
    Allies of World War II

    The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers of World War II during the World War II. Within the ranks of the Allies powers, the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and the United States of America were known as "The Big Three"....
     were known to assassinate rival underground leaders to ensure their chances of governing their nation upon liberation from the Axis
    Axis Powers

    The Axis powers were those countries that were opposed to the Allies of World War II during World War II. The three major Axis powers - Nazi Germany, Kingdom of Italy , and Empire of Japan - were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers....
    , as opposed to their rivals. Naturally, the reason given to the assassin would be that the rival leader was an Axis sympathizer.


  • In the Global War on Terrorism
    War on Terrorism

    The War on Terrorism or War on Terror are the common terms for the military, political, legal and ideological conflict against Islamic terrorism and Muslim militants, and specifically used in reference to operations by the United States, since the September 11 attacks....
    , American special operations forces and intelligence agencies employed manhunting
    Manhunt (military)

    Manhunting is the deliberate identification, capture or killing of senior or otherwise important enemy combatants, dubbed High Value Target, usually by special operations forces and Intelligence organizations....
     operations against key opponents and Al Qaeda terrorist leaders.


As tool of insurgents


Insurgent groups have often employed assassination as a tool to further their causes. Assassinations provide several functions for such groups, namely the removal of specific enemies and as propaganda tools to focus the attention of media and politics on their cause.

The Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation descended from the Irish Volunteers, established 25 November 1913 and who in April 1916 staged the Easter Rising....
 guerrillas of 1919–1921 assassinated many RIC
Royal Irish Constabulary

The armed Royal Irish Constabulary was Ireland's major police force for most of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. A separate civic police force, the unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police controlled the capital....
 Police Intelligence officers during the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence from January 1919 to July 1921 was a guerrilla warfare mounted against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army ....
. Michael Collins
Michael Collins (Irish leader)

Michael John Collins was an Ireland revolutionary leadership, Minister for Finance and Member of Parliament for South Cork in the First D?il of 1919, Director of Military intelligence for the Irish Republican Army, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations....
 set up a special unit - the Squad - for this purpose, which had the effect of intimidating many policemen into resigning from the force. The Squad's activities peaked with the assassination of 14 British agents in Dublin
Dublin

Dublin is both the largest city and capital of Republic of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region....
 on Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday (1920)

Bloody Sunday was a day of violence on 21 November 1920 in Dublin, during the Irish War of Independence , which led to the deaths of more than 30 people....
 in 1920.

This tactic was used again by the Provisional IRA during the Troubles
The Troubles

The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland and Continental Europe....
 in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
 (1969-present). Assassination of RUC
Royal Ulster Constabulary

The Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary , the Belfast Borough Police Force and the Londonderry Borough Police Force ....
 officers and politicians was one of a number of methods used in the Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997. The IRA also attempted to assassinate British Prime Minister
Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
 Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher Order of the Garter, Order of Merit, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Fellow of the Royal Society was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990....
 by bombing the Conservative Party Conference in a Brighton
Brighton

Brighton is a city on the south coast of England and, with its neighbours Hove and Portslade, forms the Brighton and Hove.The ancient settlement of Brighthelmston dates from before the Domesday Book , but it emerged as a health resort during the 18th Century and became a destination for day-trippers after the arrival of the railway in...
 hotel. Loyalist paramilitaries
Ulster loyalism

Ulster loyalism is a militant Unionism in Ireland ideology held mostly by Protestants in Northern Ireland. Some individuals claim that Ulster loyalists are Working class unionists willing to use violence in order to achieve their aims....
 retaliated by killing Catholics at random and assassinating Irish nationalist politicians.

Basque
Basque people

The Basques are a people who inhabit a region spanning over parts of north-central Spain and southwestern France.The name Basque derives from the ancient tribe of the Vascones, described by Ancient Greece historian Strabo as living south of the western Pyrenees and north of the Ebro River, in modern day Navarre and northern Aragon....
 separatists ETA
ETA

or ETA , is an illegal and armed Basque nationalist and separatist organisation. Founded in 1959, it evolved from a group advocating traditional cultural ways to a paramilitary group demanding Basque independence....
 in Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 have assassinated many security and political figures since the late 1960s, notably Luis Carrero Blanco
Luis Carrero Blanco

Don Luis Carrero-Blanco, 1st Duke of Carrero-Blanco Grandee of Spain was a Spain admiral and statesman....
 in 1973. Since the early 1990s, they have also targeted academics, journalists and local politicians who publicly disagreed with them, meaning that many needed armed police bodyguards.

The Red Brigades
Red Brigades

The Red Brigades were a terrorist communist-inspired group located in Italy and active, mainly via political assassinations and bank robberies, during the "Years of Lead "....
 in Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
 carried out assassinations of political figures, as to a lesser extent, did the Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction

The Red Army Faction or RAF , was postwar West Germany's most violent and prominent militant left-wing terrorist group. It described itself as a communist "urban guerrilla" group engaged in armed resistance....
 in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 in the 1970s and 1980s.

Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
ern groups, such as the PLO and Hezbollah
Hezbollah

Hezbollah is a Shi'a Islamic political and paramilitary organisation based in Lebanon. It is a significant force in Politics of Lebanon, providing social services, which operate schools, hospitals, and agricultural services for thousands of Lebanese Shiites....
, have all engaged in assassinations, though the higher intensity of armed conflict in the region compared to western Europe means that many of their actions are either better characterized as guerrilla operations or as random attacks - especially the technique of suicide bombs.

In the Vietnam War
Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina Wars, the Vietnam Conflict, or often in Vietnam the American War occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia from 1959 to April 30, 1975....
, assassinations were routinely carried out by communist insurgents against government officials and individual civilians deemed to offend or rival the revolutionary movement. Such attacks, along with widespread military activity by insurgent bands, almost brought the Diem
Diem

Diem may refer to several different people or phrases:*Ngo Dinh Diem was the leader of the Republic of Vietnam who was assassinated in a military coup in 1963....
 regime to collapse before the US intervention.

For money or gain

Individually, too, people have often found reasons to arrange the deaths of others through paid intermediaries. One who kills with no political motive or group loyalty, only for money, is known as a hitman
Contract killing

Contract killing is the concept of a private contractor or a government hiring someone to kill a specific person or persons for a sum of money....
, or contract killer. Note that by the definition accepted above, while such a killer is not, strictly speaking, an assassin, if the killing is ordered and financed towards a political end, then that killing must rightly be termed an assassination, and the hitman an assassin by extension.

Entire organizations have sometimes specialized in assassination as one of their services, to be gained for the right price. Besides the original hashshashin
Hashshashin

The Hashshashin from which the word Assassinations is thought to originate, was the Persian Empire derived designation of the Nizari branch of the Ismailism Shia Islam during the Middle Ages....
, the ninja
Ninja

In history of Japan, a is a warrior specially trained in a variety of unorthodox arts of war. These include assassination, espionage, and various martial arts....
 clans of Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
 were rumored to perform assassinations, though it can be pointed out that most of what was ever known about the ninja was rumor
Rumor

A rumour or rumor , is often viewed as "an unverified account or explanation of events circulating from person to person and pertaining to an object, event, or issue in public concern" However, a review of the research on rumor conducted by Pendleton in 1998 found that research across sociology, psychology, and communication studies ha...
 and hearsay
Hearsay

Not to be confused with heresy.Hearsay literally means information gathered by the first person from a second person concerning some event, condition, or thing of which the first person had no direct experience....
.

In the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, Murder, Inc.
Murder, Inc.

Murder, Inc., Murder Incorporated or Brownsville Boys was the name given by the press for an organized crime group in the 1920s to 1940s that carried out hundreds of murders on behalf of the mob....
, an organization partnered to the Mafia
Mafia

The Mafia is a Sicily criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct....
, was formed for the sole purpose of performing assassinations for organized crime. In Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
, the vory (thieves), Russian organised crime syndicates, are often known to provide assassinations for the right price, as well as engaging in it themselves for their own purposes. A professional hitman is called "cleaner" in Russia; he is used to clean away the target. The Finnish as well as the Swedish underworld uses the word "torpedo
Torpedo

Note: Prior to 1900, in naval usage "torpedo" could also refer to what today is called a naval mine. For that usage, see naval mine.The modern torpedo is a self-propelled explosive projectile weapon, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater toward a target, and designed to detonate on contact or in proximity t...
" for a contract killer.

Targeted killing


The use of assassinations for political or military reasons by sovereign states is an extremely contentious subject, with opinions ranging from people considering it a legitimate form of defense, especially against non-state actors like terror groups, to people calling targeted killings state terrorism
State terrorism

State terrorism refers to acts of terrorism conducted by governments....
 itself. Both those for and against targeted killings are also often faced with accusations of being clearly partisan to one side of the particular struggle discussed.

  • Pro: Various groups and individuals have supported assassinations such as those undertaken by Israel against opposed terror groups, claiming that the killing of people like Sheikh Ahmed Yassin
    Ahmed Yassin

    Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Yassin was the co-founder, with Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, of Hamas, a Palestinian people paramilitary organization and political party....
     is justified due to the fact that people like him provide "both religious and political cover" (for terrorist groups to operate), and that the fact that they may not have been physically involved in such crimes does not reduce their role. However, even they sometimes question the tactical prudence of such actions, while arguing that the killings may produce leadership vacuums and disorganise their organisations. They also oppose the use of the term assassination, as it denotes murder, where targeting such leaders is seen as a move in self-defence, and thus killing, but not a crime. Some even argue that targeted killing should be continued for 'retribution
    Retribution

    Retribution may refer to:* Retributive justice* Retribution Engine, a video game engine* Retribution , a novel by Jilliane Hoffman*...
     and revenge
    Revenge

    Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punishment focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one....
    ', even though they accept that the killing has little effect on the number and severity of terrorist attacks, or may even increase them in the short and mid-term.


  • Contra: Criticism of targeted killings focuses on a number of aspects, from being claimed to be against international law
    International law

    Public international law concerns the structure and conduct of states and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond domestic legal interpretation and enforcement....
     to being destabilising to local situations and thus causing more violence, an opinion also held by such intermediaries as Álvaro de Soto
    Álvaro de Soto

    ?lvaro de Soto is a Peruvian diplomat. He ended a 25 year career with the United Nations in May 2007....
    , former UN
    United Nations

    The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
     Middle East peace envoy. Criticism often also focuses on the murder of innocent victims of the more heavy-handed or failed targeted killings, in which civilians are often murdered in large numbers, such as the indiscriminate Israeli bombing of Lebanon in 2006 which produced thousands of killed and wounded Lebanese civilians.


Targeted killings are also sometimes called 'extrajudicial punishment
Extrajudicial punishment

Extrajudicial punishment is punishment by the state or some other official authority without the permission of a court or legal authority. Agents of a state apparatus often carry out this type of punishment if they come to the conclusion that a person is an imminent threat to the overall security of its political system....
', though some states require some form of judicial trial in absentia
In absentia

In absentia is Latin for "in the absence". In legal use it usually pertains to a defendant's right to be present in court proceedings....
 before such an undertaking.

Psychology


A major study about assassination attempts in the US in the second half of the 20th century came to the conclusion that most prospective assassins spend copious amounts of time planning and preparing for their attempts. Assassinations are thus rarely a case of 'impulsive' action.

However, about 25% of the actual attackers were found to be delusion
Delusion

A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception....
al, a figure that rose to 60% with 'near-lethal approachers' (people apprehended before reaching their target). This incidentally shows that while mental instability plays a role in many modern-age assassinations, the more delusional attackers are less likely to succeed in their attempt. The report also found that around two thirds of the attackers had previously been arrested for (not necessarily related) offenses, that around 44% had a history of serious depression
Depression (mood)

In the fields of psychology and psychiatry, the terms depression or depressed refer to sadness and other related emotions and behaviours. It can be thought of as either a disease or a syndrome....
, and that 39% had a history of substance abuse.

Techniques


Ancient methods


It seems likely that the first assassinations would have been direct and simple: stabbing
Stabbing

A stabbing is the penetration of a sharp or pointed object at close range. Stab connotes purposeful action, as by an assassin or murderer, but it is also possible to accidentally stab oneself or others, although such stabbings are rarely serious and still more rarely fatal....
, strangling or bludgeon
Bludgeon

Bludgeon may refer to:* Bludgeon , a fictional character* Bludgeon , a club-like weapon* Crabtree's Bludgeon, a foil to Occam's Razor...
ing. Substantial planning or coordination would rarely have been involved, as tribal groups were too small, and the connection to the leaders too close. As civilization
Civilization

A civilization is a society or culture group normally defined as a complex society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in towns and city....
 took root, however, leaders began to have greater importance, and become more detached from the groups they ruled. This would have brought planning, subterfuge and weapons into successful assassination plans.

The key technique was likely infiltration
Infiltration

Infiltration may refer to:*Infiltration , a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning term for air leakage into buildings*Infiltration , downward movement of water through soil...
, with the actual assassination by stabbing, smothering or strangulation. Poison
Poison

In the context of biology, poisons are Chemical substance that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
s also started to be used in many forms. Death cap
Death cap

'Amanita phalloides' , commonly known as the 'death cap', is a poisonous basidiomycete fungus, one of many in the genus Amanita. Widely distributed across Europe, A....
 mushrooms and similar plants became a traditional choice of assassins especially if they could not be perceived as poisonous by taste, and the symptoms of the poisoning did not show until after some time.

In ancient Rome, paid mobs were sometimes used to beat political enemies to death.

Modern methods


With the advent of effective ranged weaponry, and later firearm
Firearm

A firearm is a tool that projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined combustion of a propellant....
s, the position of an assassination target was more precarious. Bodyguards were no longer enough to hold back determined killers, who no longer needed to directly engage or even subvert the guard to kill the leader in question. Moreover, the engagement of targets at greater distance dramatically increased the chances for an assassin's survival. It is considered that William the Silent
William the Silent

William I, Prince of Orange , also widely known as William the Silent , or simply William of Orange , was born in the House of Nassau as a count of Nassau ....
 of the Netherlands
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 was the first leader assassinated by firearms (July 10, 1584).

Gunpowder
Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also called black powder, is an explosive mixture of sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate, KNO3 that burns rapidly, producing volumes of hot solids and gases which can be used as a propellant in firearms and as a pyrotechnic composition in fireworks....
 and other explosives also allowed the use of bombs or even greater concentrations of explosives for deeds requiring a larger touch; for an example, the Gunpowder Plot
Gunpowder Plot

The Gunpowder Conspiracy of 1605, or the Powder Treason or Gunpowder Plot, as it was then known, was a failed assassination attempt by a group of provincial English Roman Catholic Church against King James I of England....
 could have 'assassinated' almost a thousand people had it not been foiled.

Explosives, especially the car bomb
Car bomb

A car bomb is an improvised Bomb placed in a automobile or other vehicle and then vehicle explosion. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle, people near the blast site, or to damage buildings or other property....
, become far more common in modern history, with grenades and remote-triggered landmines
Land mine

A land mine is an explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the proximity of a vehicle, person, or animal....
 also used, especially in the Middle East
Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
 and Balkans (the initial attempt on Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este, Prince Imperial of Austria and Royal Prince of Hungary and Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austria-Hungary throne....
's life was with a grenade). With heavy weapons, the rocket propelled grenade
Rocket propelled grenade

A rocket-propelled grenade is any hand-held, Shoulder-launched missile weapon anti-tank weapons capable of firing an unguided rocket equipped with an explosive warhead....
 (RPG) has become a useful tool given the popularity of armored cars (discussed below), while Israeli forces have pioneered the use of aircraft-mounted missiles for assassination, as well as the innovative use of explosive devices.

A sniper
Sniper

A sniper is usually a highly trained marksman that shoots targets from Concealment positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel....
 with a precision rifle is often used in fictional assassinations. However, there are certain difficulties associated with long-range shooting, including finding a hidden shooting position with a clear line-of-sight, detailed advance knowledge of the intended victim's travel plans, the ability to identify the target at long range, and the ability to score a first-round lethal hit at long range, usually measured in hundreds of meters. A dedicated sniper rifle
Sniper rifle

In military and law enforcement terminology, a sniper rifle is a rifle used to ensure accurate placement of bullets at longer ranges than small arms....
 is also expensive, often costing thousands of dollars because of the high level of precision machining and hand-finishing required to achieve extreme accuracy.

Despite their comparative disadvantages, handguns
Handgun

A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand, with the other hand optionally supporting the shooting hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from their larger counterparts: long guns such as rifles and shotguns , mounted weapons such as machine guns and autocannons, and l...
 are more easily concealable, and consequentially much more commonly used than rifles. Of 74 principal incidents evaluated in a major study about assassination attempts in the US in the second half of the 20th century, 51% were undertaken by a handgun, 30% with a rifle or shotgun, while 15% of the attempts used knives and 8% explosives (usage of multiple weapons/methods was reported in 16% of all cases).

In the case of state-sponsored assassination, poisoning offers the greatest level of deniability (the allegations are rarely proven). Georgi Markov
Georgi Markov

Georgi Ivanov Markov was a Bulgarian dissident.Markov originally worked as a novelist and playwright, but in 1969, he defected from Bulgaria, then a communist state under the leadership of President Todor Zhivkov....
, a Bulgaria
Bulgaria

The state of Bulgaria , Scientific transliteration Balgarija, officially the Republic of Bulgaria has played a significant role in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe for over fourteen centuries....
n dissident was assassinated by ricin poisoning. A tiny pellet containing the poison was injected into his leg. Widespread allegations involving the Bulgarian government and KGB
KGB

KGB is the Russian language abbreviation of Committee for State Security , which was the official name of the umbrella organization serving as the Soviet Union's premier security agency, secret police, and intelligence agency, from 1954 to 1991....
 have not led to any legal results. The CIA has allegedly made several attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976 and then president, premier until his resignation from the office in February 2008....
, many of the schemes involving poisoning his milkshakes. A 2006 case in the UK
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 concerned the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko poisoning

Alexander Litvinenko was a former officer of Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, who escaped prosecution in Russia and received a political asylum in Great Britain....
 who was given a lethal dose of radioactive polonium
Polonium

Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive metalloid, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores....
-210, possibly passed to him in aerosol form sprayed directly onto his food. Litvinenko, a former KGB
KGB

KGB is the Russian language abbreviation of Committee for State Security , which was the official name of the umbrella organization serving as the Soviet Union's premier security agency, secret police, and intelligence agency, from 1954 to 1991....
 agent, had been granted asylum in the UK in 2000 after citing persecution in Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
. Shortly before his death he issued a statement accusing then-President of Russia Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was the second President of Russia and is the current Prime Minister of Russia as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus....
 of involvement in his assassination. President Putin denies he had any part in Litvinenko's death.

Counter-measures


Early forms


One of the earliest forms of defense against assassins was employing bodyguard
Bodyguard

A bodyguard is a type of security guard or government agent who protects a person?usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure?from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of Confidentiality, or other threats....
s. Bodyguards act as a shield for the potential target, keeping lookout for potential attackers (sometimes in advance, for example on a parade route), and literally putting themselves 'in harm's way'--both by simple presence, showing that physical force is available to protect the target, and by shielding the target during any attack. In order to neutralize any attacker, bodyguards are typically armed as much as permitted by legal and practical concerns.

This bodyguard function was often executed by the leader's most loyal warriors, and was extremely effective throughout most of early human history, leading assassins to attempt stealthy means, such as poison
Poison

In the context of biology, poisons are Chemical substance that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
 (which risk was answered by having another person taste the leader's food
Food taster

A food taster is a person that takes food to be served to someone else to confirm that it is safe to eat and does not contain toxins or poisons....
 first).

Another notable measure is the use of a body double
Political decoy

A political decoy is a person employed to impersonate a politician, in order to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on their behalf....
, a person who looks like the leader and who pretends to be the leader to draw attention away from the intended target.

Notable examples of bodyguards include the Roman Praetorian Guard
Praetorian Guard

The Praetorian Guard was a special force of guards used by Roman empire List of Roman Emperorss. Before being appropriated for the use of the Emperors' personal guards, the title was used for the guards of Roman generals, at least since the rise to prominence of the Scipio family around 275 BC....
 or the Ottoman Janissaries
Janissary

The Janissaries comprised infantry units that formed the Ottoman Empire sultan's household troops and bodyguards. The force was created by the Sultan Murad I from Christian slaves in the 14th century and was abolished by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 with the Auspicious Incident....
--although, in both cases, the protectors sometimes became assassins themselves, exploiting their power to make the head of state
Head of State

Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth or any other political state....
 a virtual hostage or killing the very leaders they were supposed to protect. The fidelity of individual bodyguards is an important question as well, especially for leaders who oversee states with strong ethnic or religious divisions. Failure to realize such divided loyalties led to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister
Prime Minister of India

The Prime Minister of India is the head of government of the India, and head of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of India, appointed by the President of India to assist the latter in the administration of the affairs of the Executive in India....
 Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi

Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi was the Prime Minister of the Republic of India for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977and for a fourth term from 1980 until her Assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, a total of fifteen years....
, assassinated by two Sikh
Sikh

Sikh is the title and name given to an adherent of Sikhism. The term has its origin in the Sanskrit ' "disciple, learner" or ' "instruction"....
 bodyguards in 1984.

Modern strategies


With the advent of gunpowder, ranged assassination (via bombs or firearms) became possible. One of the first reactions was to simply increase the guard, creating what at times might seem a small army
Brigade

A brigade is a military unit that is typically composed of two to five regiments or battalions, depending on the era and nationality of a given army....
 trailing every leader; another was to begin clearing large areas whenever a leader was present, to the point where entire sections of a city might be shut down.

As the 20th century dawned, the prevalence of assassins and their capabilities skyrocketed, and so did measures to protect against them. For the first time, armored car
Armored car (VIP)

Civilian armored cars are either factory produced, such as the Audi A6 and Audi A8, Lincoln Town Car BPS, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, or retrofitted versions of series cars....
s or armored limousines were put into service for safer transport, with modern versions rendering them virtually invulnerable to small arms
Small arms

Small arms is a general term used by the armed forces to refer to infantry weapons, such as the firearms that an individual soldier can carry....
 fire and smaller bombs and mines
Land mine

A land mine is an explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the proximity of a vehicle, person, or animal....
. Bulletproof vest
Bulletproof vest

A ballistic vest is an item of armor that absorbs the impact from firearm-fired projectiles and shrapnel fragments from explosions. This protection is for the torso....
s also began to be used, though they were of limited utility, restricting movement and leaving the head unprotected - as such they tended to be worn only during high-profile public events if at all.

Access to famous persons, too, became more and more restrictive; potential visitors would be forced through numerous different checks before being granted access to the official in question, and as communication
Communication

Communication is commonly defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs...",, 1: an act or instance of transmitting and 3 a: "a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or beha...
 became better and information technology
Information technology

Information technology , as defined by the Information Technology Association of America , is "the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to data conv...
 more prevalent, it has become all but impossible for a would-be killer to get close enough to the personage at work or in private life to effect an attempt on his or her life, especially given the common use of metal
Metal detector

Metal detectors use electromagnetic induction to detect metal. Uses include de-mining , the detection of weapons such as knives and guns, especially at airport security, geophysics, archaeology and treasure hunting....
 and bomb detector
Bomb disposal

Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. "Bomb disposal" is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:...
s.

Most modern assassinations have been committed either during a public performance or during transport
Transport

Transport or transportation is the movement of passenger and cargo from one location to another. Transport is performed by various modes of transport, such as aviation, rail transport, road transport, ship transport, cable transport, pipeline transport and space transport....
, both because of weaker security and security lapses, such as with US President
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
 John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1961 until John F....
 and former Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
i Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto

Benazir Bhutto was a Pakistani politician who chaired the Pakistan Peoples Party , a centre-left List of political parties in Pakistan. Bhutto was the first woman elected to lead a Muslim world, having twice been Prime Minister of Pakistan ....
, or as part of coups d'état
Coup d'état

A coup d??tat , often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military – to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government....
 where security is either overwhelmed or completely removed, such as with Patrice Lumumba
Patrice Lumumba

Patrice ?mery Lumumba was an African anti-colonial leader and the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo after he helped to win its independence from Belgium in June 1960....
 and likely Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende

Salvador Isabelino Allende Gossens was President of Chile of Chile from November 1970 until his death during the 1973 Chilean coup d'?tat.Allende's involvement in Chilean political life spanned a period of nearly forty years....
.

The methods used for protection by famous people have sometimes evoked negative reactions by the public, with some resenting the separation from their officials or major figures. One example might be traveling in a car protected by a bubble of clear bulletproof glass
Bulletproof glass

Bulletproof glass is a colloquial term for glass that is particularly resistant to being penetrated when struck by bullets. Since manufacturing glass of usable thicknesses capable of fully stopping most bullets cannot currently be done, the industry generally refers to it as bullet-resistant glass instead....
, such as the Popemobile
Popemobile

The Popemobile is an informal name for the specially designed motor vehicles used by the Pope during outdoor public appearances. The Popemobile was designed to allow the Pope to be more visible when greeting large crowds....
 of Pope
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 John Paul II
Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
 (built following an attempt at his life). Politicians themselves often resent this need for separation - which has at times caused tragedy when they sent their bodyguards from their side for personal or publicity reasons, as U.S. President William McKinley
William McKinley

William McKinley, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected....
 did during the public reception at which he was assassinated.

Other potential targets go into seclusion, and are rarely heard from or seen in public, such as writer
Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
 Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is a British Indian novelist and essayist. He first achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children , which won the Booker Prize in 1981....
. A related form of protection is the use of body doubles
Political decoy

A political decoy is a person employed to impersonate a politician, in order to draw attention away from the real person or to take risks on their behalf....
, a person built similar to the person he is expected to impersonate. These persons are then made up, as well as in some cases altered
Surgery

Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason....
 to look like the target, with the body double then taking the place of the person in high risk situations. Saddam Hussein is known to have used body doubles. According to Joe R. Reeder, a former under secretary for the U.S. Army from 1993–1997 writing in Fox News, Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976 and then president, premier until his resignation from the office in February 2008....
 had also used body doubles, though no details were specified.

See also

  • List of famous assassinations and assassination attempts
  • List of assassins
    List of assassins

    The following is a list of assassins with short comments on the assassination, or attempted assassination, which made them famous. It also contains some individuals who were famously suspected of particular assassinations....
  • List of assassinated people
    List of assassinated people

    This is a list of persons who were assassinated; that is, important people who were murdered, usually for ideological or political reasons. This list does not include executed persons....
  • List of U.S. Presidential assassination attempts
  • List of unsuccessful assassinations
    List of unsuccessful assassinations

    This is a list of assassinations that have failed. They are arranged in order of the targets. The names of failed assassins then follow.* Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Maldives president - Mohamed Murshid 8 January 2008...


  • Assassinations in fiction
    Assassinations in fiction

    Assassinations have formed a major plot element in various works of fiction and have also attracted scholarly attention. In Assassinations and Murder in Modern Italy: Transformations in Society and Culture, Stephen Gundle and Lucia Rinaldi analyze modern Italian assassinations in their historical and cultural contexts and explore the fil...


External links

  • a website dedicated to the study of assassination
  • CNN
    CNN

    Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is a major US Cable News Network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first station to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States....
      from CNN.com/Law CENTER, November 4, 2002. See also Ford's
    Gerald Ford

    Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the List of Vice Presidents of the United States Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974....
     1976 . However, Executive Order 12333
    Executive Order 12333

    On 4 December 1981 US President Ronald Reagan signedExecutive Order 12333,an Executive Order intended toextend powers and responsibilities of US intelligence community and direct the leaders of U.S....
     which prohibited the CIA from assassinations was relaxed by the George W. Bush administration
    George W. Bush administration

    The Presidency of George W. Bush began on his George W. Bush 2001 presidential inauguration on January 20, 2001 as the 43rd President of the United States....
    .
  • Kretzmer, David (PDF)