terrorist act
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| Noun | 1. |  terrorist act - the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fearterror - the use of extreme fear in order to coerce people (especially for political reasons); "he used terror to make them confess" biological terrorism, bioterrorism - terrorism using the weapons of biological warfare chemical terrorism - terrorism using the chemical agents of chemical warfare; can undermine the personal security of citizens; "a good agent for chemical terrorism should be colorless and odorless and inexpensive and readily available and not detectable until symptoms are experienced" cyber-terrorism, cyberwar - an assault on electronic communication networks domestic terrorism - terrorism practiced in your own country against your own people; "the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City was an instance of domestic terrorism" ecological terrorism, ecological warfare, ecoterrorism, eco-warfare - violence carried out to further the political or social objectives of the environmentalists international terrorism - terrorism practiced in a foreign country by terrorists who are not native to that country narcoterrorism - the financing of terrorist activities by participation in the drug trade nuclear terrorism - the use of a nuclear device by a terrorist organization to cause massive devastation or the use (or threat of use) of fissionable radioactive materials; "assaults on nuclear power plants is one form of nuclear terrorism" state-sponsored terrorism - terrorism practiced by a government against its own people or in support of international terrorism theoterrorism - terrorism for a religious purpose terrorisation, terrorization - an act of terrorism bombing - the use of bombs for sabotage; a tactic frequently used by terrorists dirty war - an offensive conducted by secret police or the military of a regime against revolutionary and terrorist insurgents and marked by the use of kidnapping and torture and murder with civilians often being the victims; "thousands of people disappeared and were killed during Argentina's dirty war in the late 1970s" counterintelligence - intelligence activities concerned with identifying and counteracting the threat to security posed by hostile intelligence organizations or by individuals engaged in espionage or sabotage or subversion or terrorism ring containment - a strategy of defense in cases of bioterrorism; vaccination only of people exposed and others who are in contact with them; "ring containment is a proven method of halting a smallpox epidemic" terrorist attack - a surprise attack involving the deliberate use of violence against civilians in the hope of attaining political or religious aims stash house - a house where weapons and supplies are hidden; "attacks on stash houses is the most frequently used method of counterterrorism" USS Cole - a United States destroyer; "17 sailors died as the result of a terrorist attack while the USS Cole was anchored in Aden" twin towers, World Trade Center, WTC - twin skyscrapers 110 stories high in New York City; built 1368 feet tall in 1970 to 1973; destroyed by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 counterterrorism - a strategy intended to prevent or counter terrorism biometric authentication, biometric identification, identity verification - the automatic identification of living individuals by using their physiological and behavioral characteristics; "negative identification can only be accomplished through biometric identification"; "if a pin or password is lost or forgotten it can be changed and reissued but a biometric identification cannot" automatic face recognition, face recognition, facial recognition - biometric identification by scanning a person's face and matching it against a library of known faces; "they used face recognition to spot known terrorists" facial profiling - identification of criminals and terrorist by means of videotapes of their faces; "facial profiling is a new form of airport security" Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades - a terrorist group that has worked with Al Qaeda; claimed responsibility for attacks in Iraq and Turkey Abu Sayyaf, Bearer of the Sword - a small gang of terrorist thugs claiming to seek a separate Islamic state for the Muslim minority in the Philippines; uses bombing and assassination and extortion and kidnapping; "In 2001 Abu Sayyaf kidnapped twenty people and beheaded one of the American captives" Aksa Martyrs Brigades, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Martyrs of al-Aqsa - a militant offshoot of al-Fatah that is the newest and strongest and best equipped faction active in the West Bank; responsible for many deadly attacks in Israel in 2002 ABB, Alex Boncayao Brigade, Revolutionary Proletarian Army, RPA-ABB - an urban hit squad and guerrilla group of the Communist Party in the Philippines; formed in the 1980s al-Asifa, al-Fatah, Fatah - a Palestinian political and military organization founded by Yasser Arafat in 1958 to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state; during the 1960s and 1970s trained terrorist and insurgent groups; "al-Fatah carried out numerous acts of international terrorism in western Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s" |
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