Suicide attacks tripled between 2000 and 2003 and spread in waves of imitation.

Evidence

Moreover, suicide attacks have been on the rise. For example, between 1983 and 2000, there were a total of 142 suicide attacks worldwide. This number skyrocketed to 312 just within the 3 years between 2000 and 2003, with the numbers growing worldwide. Suicide attacks come in waves, with one act of self-sacrifice inspiring others, creating cultural cycles of violent martyrdom. What better way to inspire and mobilize one’s community than to lay down one’s life for a cause? As an extreme form of parochial altruism—a combination of self-sacrifice and violent attack against perceived enemies—they mobilize society in times of conflict, and nourish it in ways that no other method of violent struggle could accomplish. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 531