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Concept
Targeted killing
Summary
Targeted killing is a form of assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield.
Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and between various nations. 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. 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. 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.
Scholars are also divided as to whether targeted killings are an effective counterterrorism strategy.
Targeted killings have also been used in Somalia, Kenya, Rwanda and in Libya.
During 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.
Also in Africa, Reuters described "targeted killings of political opponents" by Hutu army and militias in Rwanda during the Rwandan genocide. The American State Department reported the "politically targeted killings" were a prelude to general massacres in Rwanda.
During 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.
Starting under the George W. Bush Administration, targeted killings became a frequent tactic of the United States government in the War on Terror. 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.
Official source
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