“In his post 9/11 book, Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner–Meditations on the Jihadist Movement [published on December 2, 2001], [Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman] al Zawahiri justifies an escalation of terrorist techniques and tactics:
‘(1) The need to inflict the maximum casualties against the opponent, for this is the language understood by the West, no matter how much time and effort such operations take.
(2) The need to concentrate on the method of martyrdom operations as the most successful way of inflicting damage against the opponent and the least costly to the mujahidin in terms of casualties.
(3) The targets as well as the type and method of weapons used must be chosen to have an impact on the structure of the enemy and deter it enough to stop its brutality, arrogance and disregard for all taboos and customs. It must restore the struggle to its real size.
(4) To re-emphasize what we have already explained, we reiterate that focusing on the domestic enemy alone will not be feasible at this stage.’ “
– Rohan Gunaratna, Inside al Qaeda, Page 224