Originally Posted by law dawg
But why, do you think?
If you think about it (well enough), you can figure out why too. There are several reasons why. I'm not here to contribute to the writing of another book on terrorism or this will get sent to OMNI, so you'll have to do the research on your own. It's really not that difficult to figure out why if you give it some thought and genuine effort.
Originally Posted by law dawg
Wouldn't that defeat their purpose, if we assume the job of terrorists is to create terror (how's that for a tautology)? How can one create terror if the attack isn't known?
Tautologies (or their equivalent including in definitions or through synonyms in definitions) along with overly broad assumptions lead to mistakes such as that evident in the premise of your question above.
What I mentioned wouldn't necessarily defeat the purpose of terrorists, particularly as the purpose of terrorists is not always or necessarily "to create terror"; that's often it but sometimes it's just a coincidental indicator of terrorism. The purpose of terrorism is the accomplishment of the political objective itself through actual or threatened violence directed against civilians or civilian facilities; the creation of terror is a means to that purpose but not necessary for that purpose.