Prof Peter Okoro Nwankwo

Critical Investigation of Domestic Terrorism in Nigeria Prof Peter Okoro Nwankwo 1. izdevums

I examine and analyze domestic terrorism in Nigeria. I used data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) at http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/. Each recorded attack was described with date of occurrence, the city in which it occurred, who was blamed for the attack, the number of people killed and the number of people injured during the attack, weapons used in the attack, and the target of the attack. The dependent variable, Severity, was constructed from the number of people killed or injured. Sixteen independent variables were constructed as dichotomous variables based on who was blamed for the attack, who was targeted, and what weapons were used. Two additional variables, longitude and latitude of the city in which the attack occurred, were added from independent source. I used multiple linear regression analysis. All of my significant dichotomous variables described targets of the attack The targeted groups that were significant with respect to the number of people killed were (1) citizens,(2) businesses,(3) churches, and (4) Police. I concluded that the target of the attack is the essential distinguishing feature of domestic terrorism. Any proposed solution to domestic terrorism must start with analysis of who is being attacked and why.