Speeaking of fact(oids), I believe that it is the Tamil Tigers that ushered suicide-bombing into the post-modern age.
I guess the credit goes first to the Kamikazes....
This tactic (suicide bombing) became widely known during the Second World War in the Pacific as Allied ships were attacked by Japanese kamikaze pilots who caused maximum damage by flying their explosive-laden aircraft into military targets. Since the 1980s, the low cost and high lethality of the tactic have made it a favorite with guerrilla, insurgent, and especially terrorist groups, notably in the Middle East and Sri Lanka. The Tamil Tigers were, as of 2000, "unequivocally the most effective and brutal terrorist organization ever to utilize suicide terrorism";[