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EDUCATION UNDER ATTACK 2014military, ethnic, political, religious or sectarian group;or in some cases by armed criminal groups. Attacksmay also be carried out by violent mobs that are notorganized as an armed group.In reviewing available evidence, it appears that certaintypes of attacks are more likely to be carried out bygovernment or government-backed forces, 61 such asarrests, imprisonment, torture and attacks on highereducation. These government-instigated attacks aretypically linked to motives such as restricting tradeunion activity, quelling dissent and controlling information,or marginalizing a particular ethnic or politicalgroup. Other types of attack may sometimes beperformed by government forces but are more likely tobe carried out by armed groups including progovernmentparamilitaries and militia oranti-government forces, such as abduction ofstudents and teachers and attacks on governmentschools. They are often linked to motives that mayinclude spreading fear among civilians. When perpetratedby anti-government groups the motives mayinclude undermining government control over an areaor community, preventing the education of certaingroups such as girls, or reacting against perceivedbias in curricula and teaching that may reflect widersocial, religious or ethnic discrimination or conflict.In some cases, there is a blurring of the line betweenarmed groups and armed criminal groups, andbetween military and criminal motives. In somecountries, such as the Philippines, 62 armed groupshave kidnapped teachers as a means to secureransom money to fund their activities. In Mexico,killings, kidnappings and threats, particularly againstteachers, have reportedly been carried out by armedcriminal gangs. 63 In Colombia, criminal groups haveattacked schools in similar ways to armed groups,seeking to control territory and using schools asrecruitment grounds. In Medellín, for instance,criminal groups, linked to paramilitary successorgroups, 64 have threatened or killed students en routeto or from school. 65The study has found a wide range of motives ascribedto the various attacks on education, but it is difficult todraw any firm conclusions because it is hard to findsolid evidence for the motive behind many individualincidents.49