What is "sicarii"

The Sicarii ( Modern Hebrew: סיקריים siqari'im) were a splinter group of the Hebrew Zealots (Tribe of Judah) in the decades preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE who heavily opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel the Romans and any co-participant groups of Roman rule from the area. The Sicarii carried sicae, or small daggers, concealed in their cloaks. At public gatherings, they pulled out these daggers to attack Romans and Hebrew Roman sympathizers alike, blending into the crowd after the deed to escape detection.

The Sicarii were likely one of the earliest forms of an organized assassination unit of cloak and daggers, predating the Islamic Hashishin and Japanese ninjas by centuries.