targeted killings
Deliberate individual executions
Targeted killings are deliberate assassinations of specific individuals by governments or military forces, typically carried out against suspected terrorists, enemy combatants, or political opponents.
The term emerged prominently in discussions of drone strikes and counterterrorism operations: The program authorized targeted killings of suspected militants.
Distinguished from battlefield combat by the premeditated selection of individual targets, often in countries where no formal war exists.
- extrajudicialOutside court authority
- sniperConcealed precision shooter
- executionCompleting a planned task
- liquidationSelling assets for cash
- covert operationUnacknowledged governmental action
black ops · Geneva Conventions · rules of engagement · counterterrorism · assassinations · murders · elimination · death squad · special forces · plausible deniability · state sovereignty · military · war crimes · clandestine · drone strikes · political assassinations · hit list · poisonings
- War on TerrorOsama bin Laden, IED, Guantanamo, regime change, troop surge
- U.S. ConflictsVietnam War, Korean War, Gulf War, Iraq War, Afghanistan War
targeted killingscollateral damage
Unintended harm from military action
mass killing · carpet bombing · indiscriminate bombing · genocide · massacre
targeted killingsjudicial execution
State-administered death penalty
due process · capital punishment · legal execution · rule of law · fair trial
targeted killingsarrest
Seize by law
apprehension · rendition · protective custody · extraction · rescue operations
targeted, killings, target, killing, targets, targeting, targetable, kill, kills