“Al-Jihad [the Egyptian Islamist group run by Ayman al-Zawahiri] began its assault on Egypt with another attempt on the life of the interior minister, Hasan al-Alfi, who was leading the crackdown on Islamic militants. In August 1993 a bomb-laden motorcycle exploded next to the minister’s car, killing the bomber and his accomplice. ‘The minister escaped death, but his arm was broken,’ Zawahiri lamely noted. …With this action Zawahiri introduced the use of suicide bombers, which became the signature of al-Jihad assassinations and later of al-Qaeda ‘martyrdom operations.’ The strategy broke a powerful religious taboo against suicide.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, Pages 210-211