Akademik

(HOM.uh.syd BAWM.ing)

n.

A bombing that intentionally kills another person; a suicide bombing in which the bomber's intent is to kill other people. — homicide bomber, n.

Barghouti, 41, a fiery West Bank figure, is the head of the Tanzim militia of Arafat's Fatah faction and is believed to be in charge of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which has claimed responsibility for several homicide bombings and other attacks.

— Uri Dan, "Israel nabs terror chief," The New York Post, April 16, 2002

''We're working systematically very, very hard in arduous conditions,'' Killorin said. ''This is what we know. The man is in the area. We've confirmed that. Absolutely, we're very careful because this person is wanted for a homicide bombing.''

— Kathy Scruggs, "Manhunt for Rudolph expected to drag on," The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 22, 1998

The president ... convened a meeting of the National Security Council, at which point, in the middle of the meeting, the president was informed about this morning's homicide bombing in Jerusalem. ... The Saudi telethon, as they have told it to us, is to provide assistance to the Palestinian people, and that isn't — no money is going to go to provide the homicide bombers with any assistance from the Saudi government.

— Ari Fleischer, "White House Regular Briefing," Federal News Service, April 12, 2002

This phrase has been in the news since last Friday, April 12, when White House spokesman Ari Fleischer first ran it up the linguistic flagpole (see the first use, below):

Fox News (and The New York Post; see above) immediately took up the new usage, but CNN and the news divisions of ABC, CBS, and NBC continue to use suicide bombing and suicide bomber. The numerous media accounts that have felled an untold number of trees to parse this simple phrase have mostly made it sound as though "homicide bombing" didn't exist before April 12. Not true, as the earliest citation shows.

Here's a much earlier citation that doesn't quite count because the phrase is clearly being used as a compound:

An experimental government program which uses tiny plastic particles to help trace explosives has led to an arrest in a homicide-bombing case, the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Monday.

— The Associated Press, June 18, 1979

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Terrorism