![]() ![]() Instances of targeted killing by the United States that have received significant attention include the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011 and the killing of Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022, as well as those of American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and his teenage son in 2011. Bush Administration, targeted killings became a frequent tactic of the United States government in the War on Terror. Americas ĭuring the 1980s and 1990s, targeted killings were employed extensively by death squads in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Haiti within the context of civil unrest and war. The American State Department reported the "politically targeted killings" were a prelude to general massacres in Rwanda. Īlso in Africa, Reuters described "targeted killings of political opponents" by Hutu army and militias in Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide. Somalia and Rwanda, 1990s ĭuring fighting in the Somali Civil War, Sean Devereux described torture and killing by warlords in Kismayo as "targeted killings, a kind of ethnic cleansing", shortly before his assassination. Targeted killings have also been used in Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda and in Libya. ![]() Scholars are also divided as to whether targeted killings are an effective counterterrorism strategy. They argue that drones are more humane and more accurate than manned vehicles, and that targeted or "named killings" do not occur in any context other than a declared state of war. Some academics, military personnel and officials describe targeted killing as legitimate within the context of self-defense, when employed against terrorists or combatants engaged in asymmetrical warfare. Historically, at least since the mid-eighteenth century, Western thinking has generally considered the use of assassination as a tool of statecraft to be illegal. ![]() Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and between various nations. Targeted killing is a form of assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Targeted killings are frequently performed using unmanned combat aerial vehicles like the MQ-9 Reaper. ![]()
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