If you looked at the history of terrorism, you’d find it has a poor track record at achieving positive results for the groups conducting terrorist acts. It’s a rather dangerous occupation to be involved in. Many terrorists end up forfeiting their own lives with nothing gained. This sad list that I’ve put together contains only some of the more well-known acts of terrorism. It also does not include all of the coups, riots, and Assassinations that could be categorized as terrorism, but are unfortunately too numerous to mention.
July 1968
Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation Palestine (PFLP) hijacked an El Al flight en route to Tel Aviv and forced it to land in Algiers. The attack marked the first aircraft hijacking by a Palestinian group. The hijackers were said to have believed Israeli General Ariel Sharon was on the flight. The passengers and crew were detained by Algeria for six weeks.
Sept 1970
The first mass hijacking occurred in 1970, when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine seized control of two American planes and one Swiss airliner, all bound from Europe to the United States, to punish the United States for supporting Israel. The Pan Am, TWA and Swissair planes were blown up on the ground in Jordan and Egypt.
Sept 1972
Palestinian Black September terrorists massacred 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics. An airport shootout also leaves 5 captors and 1 policeman dead.
June 1976
An Air France airliner is hijacked by a joint German Baader-Meinhof/Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group and its crew are forced to fly to Entebbe airport in Uganda. Some two hundred and fifty eight passengers and crew are held hostage but all non-Israeli passengers are eventually released. On 4 July Israeli commandos fly to Uganda and rescue the remaining hostages. All the terrorists were killed in the rescue, as are three passengers and one commando.
Oct 1976
Seventy three people killed when Miami, Florida based El Condor Cuban exiles explode a bomb aboard a Cuban Airlines jet as it takes off from Barbados.
Oct 1977
Four Palestinian terrorists hijack a German Lufthansa Boeing 737 and order it to fly around a number of Middle East destinations for four days. After the plane’s pilot is killed by the terrorists, it is stormed by German GSG9 counter-terrorist troops, assisted by two British Army Special Air Service soldiers, when it puts down at Mogadishu, Somalia. All the ninety hostages are rescued and three terrorists killed.
March 1978
A nine strong Al Fatah Palestinian seaborne raiding party lands in Israel and hijacks a bus, killing twenty six civilians and wounding seventy. All the terrorists are killed by Israeli security forces. The Israelis retaliate by invading southern Lebanon, under code name Operation Litani.
May 1979
One person hurt in a package bomb explosion at Northwestern University, United States, which is designated as the first ever attack by the so-called Unabomber. After nearly 30 years of bombings, Theodore Kaczynski was eventually turned in by his brother and given a life Sentence.
Nov 1979
Two hundred Islamic terrorists seize Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, taking hundred of pilgrims hostage. Saudi and French security forces retake the Islamic world’s most holy shrine after a intense battle, in which some two hundred and fifty people were killed and six hundred wounded.
April 1980
Iranian Arabs seized the Iranian embassy in London, taking twenty-six people hostage. Two hostages were killed on May 5. Special forces stormed the embassy, rescuing the remaining hostages and killing five of the six terrorists. Much of the embassy was destroyed by fire.
May 1982
Abu Nidal terrorists critically injured the Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom in an attack in London. The shooting caused the government of Israel to launch an invasion of Lebanon in the “Peace for Galilee” operation.
July 1982
Eleven persons were killed on July 20, 1982 in Regency Park and Hyde Park in London by bombs planted by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), a Northern Ireland terrorist organization which is trying to force the U.K. out of Northern Ireland so that Ulster can be united with the Republic of Ireland.
August 1982
Gunmen threw a grenade into a restaurant in Paris and then opened fire with automatic weapons, killing six people and wounding twenty-seven. Two of the dead and two of the wounded were Americans. Action Directe claimed, and then denied, responsibility for the attack.
April 1983
A car bomb exploded in front of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing sixty-three people, including seventeen Americans. More than one hundred others were wounded. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility, calling the bombing “part of the Islamic revolution.” Iran subsequently denied having any role in the attack.
Oct 1983
Terrorists bombed the U.S. Marine compound in Beirut, causing the largest loss of U.S. military personnel in a single event since the Vietnam War. The blast, which killed 241, was carried out by Muslim militias after U.S. warships intervened in Lebanon’s civil war.
Dec 1983
Harrod’s department store in London was bombed on December 16, by the northern Ireland terrorist organization Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). The bombing killed five, including one U.S. citizen, and injured ninety-one others.
Sept 1984
Fourteen people were killed and seventy were wounded when a van loaded with four hundred pounds of explosives drove past the checkpoint in front of the U.S. embassy annex in Awkar and exploded. The driver of the van was shot and killed by British security guards. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing in a call to the media.
June 1985
A bomb exploded on an Air India flight over the North Atlantic following its departure from Canada, killing all three hundred twenty-nine passengers on board. A second bomb exploded at Narita Airport in Japan, killing two people. Sikh extremists claimed responsibility for both bombings.
July 1985
Abu Nidal terrorists bombed a British Airways ticket office in Madrid, killing one person and injuring twenty-seven. A TWA office also was destroyed. The bombings apparently were in retaliation against President Reagan’s threat the previous day to strike against terrorism.
Oct 1985
Four Palestinian gunmen hijacked the Italian cruise ship “Achille Lauro” off Alexandria, Egypt. While off the Syrian port of Tartus, the terrorists killed a wheelchair-bound American. Egypt and Italy negotiated the return of the ship and the remaining passengers. U.S. fighters intercepted an Egyptian jet carrying the hijackers and forced it down at a NATO base in Italy.
Nov 1985
An Egyptian jet was hijacked to Malta. Fifty-nine passengers, including one American, were killed when Egyptian troops stormed the plane in Malta on November 24.
April 1986
Four Americans were killed and nine people, including five Americans, were injured when a bomb exploded aboard TWA flight 840 as it traveled from Rome to Athens. The aircraft was able to land safely at Athens airport.
April 1986
Le Belle Disco, a nightclub in West Berlin frequented by U.S. servicemen, was bombed, killing two American soldiers and one Turkish woman. Two hundred others were wounded in the bombing. Libya was implicated in the bombing.
Sept 1986
Twenty-one Jewish worshipers were killed in Istanbul during an attack on a synagogue by an Abu Nidal terrorist team.
June 1987
A car bomb exploded outside the back gate of the U.S. Embassy in Rome and rockets were fired at the compound from across the street. One passerby was injured in the attacks.
Nov 1987
Korean Air Lines Flight 858 was blown up over the Andaman Sea near Burma by two North Korean agents, killing all 115 persons aboard.
Nov 1987
Thirteen people were killed in the Northern Ireland town of Enniskillen when the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) detonated a bomb during the town’s observance of Remembrance Day.
Dec 1988
Pan Am Flight 103, outbound from London for New York with 259 people aboard, was destroyed by a bomb on December 21, 1988 while over Lockerbie, Scotland. All aboard the aircraft were killed as were eleven persons on the ground at Lockerbie.
Sept 1989
UTA Flight 772 from Chad was blown up by bomb while flying over the Sahara desert in Niger, killing all 171 passengers and crew on board.
Feb 1993
Terrorism came to U.S. soil for the first time in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, which killed six and injured 1,000. The mastermind was Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, a Pakistani militant trained in Afghanistan. Yousef was captured in 1995 in Pakistan. When he was brought to New York for trial, he bragged to FBI agents that he could have destroyed the complex if he’d had sufficient funds and equipment.
March 1995
Terrorists used chemical weapons for the first time when Aum Shinrikyo, also known as the Aum Supreme Truth, simultaneously released the chemical nerve agent sarin on several Tokyo subway trains. Twelve people were killed and up to 6,000 injured.
April 1995
At 9:03 AM, a truck bomb shattered the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 people-including children playing in the building’s day care center.
June 1996
The explosion of a fuel truck set off by terrorists outside the northern fence of the Khobar Towers complex near King Abdul Aziz Air Base, Saudi Arabia, killed 19 U.S. military service members and injured over 260.
Aug 1998
In Nairobi, Kenya a car bomb exploded behind the US Embassy, killing 291 persons and wounding about 5,000. Terrorists associated with Usama Bin Ladin’ al-Qaida organization also detonated an extremely large truck bomb outside the US Embassy in Tanzania, killing 10 Tanzanians and injured 77 persons.
Sept 2001
America experiences its worst case of terrorism when Usama Bin Ladin trained and funded agents take over four domestic airliners. Two jets are flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, causing an estimated number of 3,000 people to lose their lives. A third plane is flown into the Pentagon, killing around 180 people. In western Pennsylvania the fourth hijacked jet crashes after passengers struggle with the terrorists.
Oct 2002
More than 180 people are killed in a double terrorist bombing in Bali, Indonesia. Over 300 people many of whom were foreign tourists are injured in the attack on a nightclub on the resort island. Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic extremist group allied with Al Qaeda, is believed to be behind the blasts.
March 2004
Ten terrorist bombs exploded during the morning rush hour in Madrid, Spain, killing 202 and injuring more than 1,400. Islamic militants were behind the attack.
July 2005
In Great Britian, four explosions rocked the London subway system and tore open a packed double-decker bus. At least 40 people were killed in the attack.
Sept 20, 2008- A massive suicide truck bomb devastated the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan’s capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 100. Officials feared there were dozens more dead inside the burning building. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. (CBS/AP)
Nov 26, 2008- A series of 10 attacks on the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India resulted in the deaths of at least 195 people, with more than two hundred others wounded. The targeted locations included Chhatrapati Railway Station, two five-star hotels, the Oberoi Trident and the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, the Orthodox Jewish owned Nariman House, and the Mumbai Police Headquarters.
2009
Muslim Brotherhood: Jihad against Jews
In Qatar, Sheikk Yusuf al-Qaradawi gave a Friday sermon that aired on the Arabic Satellite channel Al-Jazeera TV on January 9, 2009, in which he incited violence against the Jews. “Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.”
Al Qaeda Leader Osama Bin Laden
In January 14, 2009 the Al Queda leader called for holy war against for Israel in an audio message titled “A Call for Jihad to Stop the Aggression on Gaza.” Bin Laden urged the “Muslim nation” to defeat the “Zionist entity.”
June 1, 2009, Little Rock, Arkansas – An American Muslim, Abdulhakim Mujad opened fire on a U.S. military recruiting office. Private William Long was killed and Private Quinton Ezeagwula was wounded.
2010
Palestinian Rocket Attacks
The Israel Security Agency reported that Palestinians carried out 150 rocket launches and 215 mortar launches at Israel during the year (2010). The report stated that Iran succeeded in smuggling 1,000 mortar shells and hundreds of short-range rockets into the Gaza Strip over the course of this year.
Sanai Desert
The Israel Security Agency also warned that the Sanai Desert was turning into Hamas’s “backyard” for operations and storage of arms. In 2010 two instances of Hamas firing rockets from the Sinai at the southern Israeli port city of Eliat.
Austin, Texas
Andrew Joseph Stack III crashes his plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas on February 18, 2010 killing himself and a person inside the building and injuring 13 others. The crash caused a serious fire and significant damage to the building.
Lahore, Pakistan Suicide Bombings
March 8 thru March 12, 2010, three suicide bombings on two separate days (72+ dead and 190+ injured) in which a car bomb struck a Federal Investigation Agency’s office, and the other two suicide bombers detonated simultaneously while targeting a passing military convoy within the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. Suicide bombings are generally very prevalent in Pakistan.
Suicide Bombing in Moscow
On March 29,2010 two female Shahidka suicide bombers detonated their explosive-belts on the Moscow Metro system at the peak of the morning rush hour. Forty people were killed and 100 injured.
2011
Egypt-Israeli Cross-Border Multiple Attacks
The Jerusalem Post reported that on August 18, 2011, a series of (3) brutal cross-border parallel attacks and mutual cover was carried out in southern Israel on Highway 12 near the Egyptian border by a squad of 12 militants in four groups. The militants first opened fire at an Egged No.392 bus as it was traveling on Highway 12 in the Negev near Eilat.
The Second Attack
Several minutes later, a bomb was detonated next to an Israeli army patrol along Israel’s border with Egypt.
The Third Attack
In a third attack, an anti-tank missile hit a private vehicle, killing four civilians. Eight Israelis-six civilians, one Yamanspecial Unit police officer and one Golani Brigade soldier-were killed in the multiple-stage attack. The Israeli security forces reported eight attackers killed, and Egyptian security forces reported killing another two.
2012
NDAA Controversy
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FiscalYear 2012 — signed into U.S. law on December 31, 2011 by President Barack Obama. The detention provisions of the Act have received critical attention. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, and some media sources are concerned about the scope of the president’s authority, including the authorization in the NDAA that those whom they claim may be held indefinitely, without legal representation or trial-could include U.S. citizens arrested on American soil, including arrests by members of the Armed Forces
Terrorist Propaganda Increases on Web
On January 20, 2012 The National Interest disclosed, “Because of international neglect and tolerance of threat groups on the Web, propaganda is now the primary activity of insurgent, terrorist and extremist groups. Almost all threat groups worldwide have established a presence on the Web, and over 90 percent of them use U.S. servers.” Cyberspace has emerged as the principal propaganda platform and growing at an astounding rate for threat groups to recruit, raise funds and to coordinate operations.
Operation Returning Echo
The Times of Israel reported that the March 2012 Gaza-Israel clashes started on March 9, 2012, and constituted the worst outbreak of violence covered by the media in the region since the 2008-2009 Gaza War.
Palestinian Rocket Attacks against Israel Intensify
In mid-March 2012 there was a tremendous escalation of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. Throughout the month, according to the Israel Security Agency’s report during the escalation alone-Palestinians fired 281 rockets at Israel, of which 86 were long-range.
Haqqui Terrorist Network
On September 7, 2012 NPR News reported that the U.S. State Department announced it has added one of the main Afghan insurgent groups to its terrorism list; the Haqqani network, which has staged numerous attacks on Western interests in Afghanistan from its base in northwestern Pakistan. Haqqui has also been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanastan.
2013
Boston Marathon Bombing
On April 15, 2013 two pressure cooker bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon at 2:49 p.m. EST killing 3 people and injuring an estimated 264 others. The FBI identified the suspects later that day as Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. During an initial interrogation in the hospital, Dzhokhar alleged that Tamerlan was the mastermind. He said they were motivated by extremist Islamist beliefs and the wars in Iraqhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War and Afghanistan and that they were self-radicalized and unconnected to any outside terrorist groups.
2014
Terrorists attacks have continued to increase worldwide. Some of the most reported incidents are:
July 17, Ukraine: A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 crashes in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, killing all 298 passengers and crew members. The crash occurs in territory where pro-Russian separatists have been battling Ukrainian troops. President Poroshenko says the crash is an act of terror. “I would like to note that we are calling this not an incident, not a catastrophe, but a terrorist act,” he says. Ukrainian and American officials say the plane is shot down by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, citing satellite images.
Poroshenko accuses the separatists of launching the missile, which they deny. Russian president Putin also denies having any role in the disaster. A day after the crash, President Obama says he believes that the rebels shot down the plane. He calls the crash a “global tragedy” and faults Putin for continuing to arm the rebels and for not stopping the fighting. Most analysts say rebels may have thought they were targeting a military transport plane rather than a commercial jet.
A day before the crash, the U.S. and Europe impose further sanctions on Russia in response to Putin’s refusal to stop arming the separatists.
August 19:
Members of ISIS behead American journalist James Foley, 40, in apparent retaliation for U.S. airstrikes against the group. Foley, who worked for GlobalPost, went missing in Syria in November
2012.
Sept. 2: An ISIS militant decapitates another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, 31, who worked for Time and other news outlets. He was abducted in 2013 in Syria
2015
In January, Paris, France was struck by the largest-ever terrorist attack on its soil (Charlie Hebdo attack), the worst in the EU for a decade, and the deadliest in Europe as a whole since Anders Breivik’s killing spree in Oslo four years ago. Afterward, a huge ensued to express concern and reject such violent barbarism. Organizers say up to 1.6m attended the march as well as more than 40 world leaders including British Prime Minister, David Cameron, as well as Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and others. But President Obama did not attend; nor did he send a U.S. representative to show solidarity.
On July 16, 2015, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez opened fire on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He first committed a drive-by shooting at a recruiting center, then traveled to a U.S. Navy Reserve center and continued firing. He was killed by police in a gunfight. Four Marines were killed immediately. A Navy sailor, a Marine recruiter, and a police officer were wounded; the sailor died from his injuries two days later.
2016
Terrorism is increasing exponentially all throughout the world. Three of the most reported incidents include: 1) Orlando, Florida gay nightclub shooting; on June 12, 2016 Islamist shooter, Omar Mateen opened fire inside Pulse gay club; killing 50 people and 52 injured. In Columbus, Ohio Mohamed Barry, a Muslim immigrant from Guinea, charged into the Nazareth Restaurant and Deli in Columbus, Ohio, on Feb. 11 and immediately began attacking innocent patrons with a machete.
2) In Dallas, Texas a sniper attack killed 5 police officers, injured police officers and two civilians; the attacker was killed by the police.
3) On November 28, 2016. in Columbus, Ohio Abdul Razak Ali Artan, an ISIS-inspired 20-year-old Somali refugee who had been granted permanent legal residence in 2014 after living in Pakistan for 7 years, attempted to run over his fellow Ohio State students on campus. After his car was stopped by a barrier, he got out of the vehicle and began hacking at people with a butcher knife before being shot dead by a campus police officer.
Artan injured 11 people, one critically. ISIS took credit for the attack, describing Artan as their “soldier.” Just three minutes before his rampage, Artan posted a warning to America on Facebook that the “lone wolf attacks” will continue until America “give[s] peace to the Muslims.” He also praised deceased al-Qaeda cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki as a “hero.”
For a more comprehensive list visit:
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/terrorism/wrjp255a.html
2017
On January 6, 2017 Esteban Santiago Ruiz, 26, a Muslim convert shot and killed 5 people and injured 6 at the Fort Lauderdale airport; 12,000 people were evacuated from the airport. He used Arabic-sounding names, and that he was a radicalized terrorist who had converted to an extreme form of Islam. Some said that he used the name Emir Mohamed Sikkim, while others claimed he had assumed the name Aashiq Hammad.
2018
Mastung and Bannu bombings: At least 149 people, including the Balochistan Awami Party candidate Nawabzada Siraj Raisani, were killed and 186 others injured when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Mastung in the Pakistani province of Balochistan.
2019
Kenya–Nairobi hotel attack: At least one suicide bomber stormed the luxury complex DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi and detonated his explosives. Several gunmen took hostages and attacked the hotel with firearms. At least 21 people were killed including a British and an American citizen, 28 other people were injured and five attackers were also killed.