The following is a timeline of acts and failed attempts that can be considered terrorism.
Note: there is no single accepted definition of terrorism in common use. Incidents listed here are commonly called terrorism, or meet some of the commonly used criteria.
Middle Ages
16th century
- Hernán Cortés, after hearing rumors of plots to kill him, massacres the inhabitants of Cholula and burns down the city.
17th century
18th century
- 1773, USA : The Boston Tea Party was one of the first colonists' rebellious acts of the American Revolution. Today, the FBI classifies this as an act of terrorism, under destruction of property for purposes of political coercion.
19th century
1910s-1960s
1970s
- 1970 May 8 Avivim school bus massacre by Palestinian PLO terrorists, killing nine children, three adults and crippling 19.
- 1970 February 21 Swissair Flight 330: All nine crew members and 38 passengers were killed due to the explosion of a bomb in the rear of the plane when it crashed near Zurich, Switzerland.
- 1970 September 6 In an attempted seizure of an Israeli El Al jetplane, hijacker Sandinista Patrick Arguello was killed and hijacker Leila Khaled was captured. See also Dawson's Field hijackings, Black September in Jordan.
- 1970 October 5 - 17 October Crisis (Quebec): FLQ murder of Pierre Laporte, kidnapping of James Cross
- 1971 December 4 UVF bomb in McGurk's bar in Belfast's North Queen Street kills 15 people.
- 1972 May 30 Lod Airport Massacre by the Japanese Red Army terrorists, killing 26 and injuring 78
- 1972 July 21 Bloody Friday nine are killed and 130 injured as Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) set off 22 bombs
- 1972 July 31 Provisional Irish Republican Army set of three car bombs in Claudy killing six
- 1972 September 5 Munich Olympic Massacre by Black September
- 1973 December 17 Pan Am Flight 110: 30 passengers were killed when phosphorus bombs were thrown aboard the aircraft as it was preparing for departure.
- 1973 December 20 ETA Basque terrorist group kills Spanish Prime Minister Admiral Carrero Blanco bombing his car in Madrid.
- 1974 April 11 Kiryat Shmona massacre at an apartment building by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists, killing 18 people, 9 of whom were children
- 1974 May 15 Ma'alot massacre at the Ma'alot High School in Northern Israel by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists: 26 of the hostages were killed, 66 wounded.
- 1974 UVF detonate 3 car bombs in Dublin and one in Monaghan; 33 dead - the deadliest toll of any one day in Ireland's 'Troubles'.
- 1974 TWA Flight 841
- 1974 JRA-PFLP attack on a Shell Oil facility in Singapore and the simultaneous seizure of the Japanese embassy in Kuwait
- 1974 September 13 ETA Basque terrorist group bombs the "Rolando" cafeteria in Madrid, kills 12.
- 1974 October 5 Guildford pub bombing by the IRA leaves 5 dead and 44 injured.
- 1974 November 21 Birmingham pub bombing by the IRA kills 21, 182 people are injured.
- 1975 January 24, FALN bomb the Fraunces Tavern, killing four and injuring more than 50
- 1975 Tel Aviv Savoy Hotel guest attacked by Palestinian PLO terrorists
- 1975 July 31 Three members of Ireland's popular Miami Showband killed in UVF gun attack.
- 1976 Hijacking of Air France Flight 139 (Tel-Aviv-Paris) and the following Operation Entebbe
- 1976 A Cubana aircraft was bombed while flying from Barbados to Havana, killing 73
- 1976 February 3 Somali Coast Liberation Front hijack a school bus in Djibouti, killing one girl
- 1976 February 16 Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia assassinate Turkish diplomat Oktay Cerit in Paris
- 1976 September 21 Orlando Letelier assassinated in Washington by Chilean government
- 1976 December 4 In the Netherlands, members of the RMS movement occupy the Indonesian diplomatic consulate in The Hague. One Indonesian official was killed.
- 1976 December 14 In the Netherlands, near Beilen, a passenger train was hijacked by members of the RMS movement, passengers were kept hostage. Three passengers were killed by the hijackers.
- 1977 April 7 Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver were shot by two Red Army Faction members.
- 1977 May 23 In the Netherlands, RMS activists kept 105 children and 5 teachers hostage in a school in Smilde.
- 1977 June 11 In the Netherlands, near Groningen, a passenger train was hijacked by members of the RMS, 55 passengers were kept hostage. In an army attack six hijackers and two passengers were killed.
- 1977 July 30 Jürgen Ponto, then head of the Dresdner Bank, was shot and killed by the Red Army Faction in a failed kidnapping.
- 1977 September 5 Hanns Martin Schleyer was kidnapped by the Red Army Faction. He was executed by the Red Army Faction on October 19 1977.
- 1977 October 13 Lufthansa flight LH 181 was kidnapped by a group of four Arabs around the leader "Captain Martyr Mahmud".
- 1978-1995 The Unabomber kills three and injures 29 in a string of anti-technology bombings
- 1978 March 16 - May 9 The Red Brigade kidnapping of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro and assassinate him 55 days later
- 1978 March In the Netherlands members of the RMS movement occupy a provincial office in Assen. 67 persons were kept hostage, one official was killed on the spot, another died of injuries a month later.
- 1978 Hilton bombing: A bomb is detonated outside the CHOGM meeting in Sydney, Australia, killing 2 people. 3 Ananda Marga members are later arrested and jailed for the attack
- 1978 Palestinian Fatah terrorists on the Tel Aviv - Haifa highway kill 34 Israelis.
- 1979 July 29, ETA Basque terrorist group bombs two railway stations in Madrid, kills 7.
- 1979 August 27 Lord Mountbatten and three others are killed by IRA bomb on board his boat off Mullaghmore. The same day two IRA bombs kill 18 British Soldiers near Warrenpoint.
1980s
- 1980 Four US nuns killed by death squads in El Salvador
- 1980 December U.S. trained Salvadoran Army unit executes 800 civilians at the village of El Mozote.
- 1980 March 24 Archbishop Óscar Romero assassinated by death squads in El Salvador
- 1980 April 30 Iranian Embassy siege Iraqi agents took over the Iranian Embassy in London, gaining hostages. After a number of days, one hostage was killed by the Iraqis, and the Special Air Service assaulted the building to rescue the remaining hostages. One hostage died during the assault.
- 1980 August 2 Neo-Fascist bomb kills more than 80 people and injures 291 people at the Bologna Central Station
- 1981 October 6 Assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by Islamic Jihad
- 1982 July 20 Two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, London by the IRA kill 8 members of the Household Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets. Seven horses are also killed.
- 1982 August 7 Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia set off bomb in Ankara airport, killing 9 people and wounding 70
- 1982 September 14 Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Bashir Gemayel and twenty-five others in an car explosion at the Kataeb headquarters
- 1982 September 17 Sabra and Shatila Massacre: the murder of hundreds of Palestinian civilians at refugee camps by Israeli-backed Christian Phalangist militiamen
- 1982 October 14 Direct Action bombs a Litton Industries factory
- 1983 Harrods bomb by the IRA. Six are killed (including three police officers) and 90 wounded during Christmas shopping at the West London department store.
- 1983 April 18 U.S. Embassy Bombing in Beirut, Lebanon kills 63
- 1983 July 15 Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia bombed a Turkish airline counter in the Orly Airport, killing eight people and wounding over 50
- 1983 September 23 Gulf Air Flight 771 is bombed, killing all 117 people on board
- 1983 October 9 Rangoon bombing by North Koreans targets South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan, killing 21 persons and injuring 48
- 1983 October 23 Marine Barracks Bombing in Beirut kills 241 U.S. Marines. 58 French troops from the multinational force are also killed in a separate attack.
- 1984 October 31 Two Sikh bodyguards assassinate Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi
- 1984 IRA bomb in the Grand Hotel Brighton 5 are killed in an attempt to kill members of the British cabinet.
- 1985 TWA Flight 847 hijacking
- 1985 IRA mortar attack kills nine soldiers in Newry
- 1985 June 22 Air India Flight 182 is blown up by a bomb put onboard the flight from Canada by Sikh nationalists. All 329 people on board are killed. The single most deadly terrorist attack prior to September 11, 2001.
- 1985 October 7 - October 10 Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking by Palestinian Liberation Front, during which passenger Leon Klinghoffer is shot dead.
- 1985 EgyptAir Flight 648 hijacked by Abu Nidal group, flown to Malta, where Egyptian commandos storm plane; 60 are killed by gunfire and explosions.
- 1985 Rome and Vienna Airport Attacks
- 1985 Investigators associated with the WHO reported that U.S.-funded Contras repeatedly destroyed health-care facilities and murdered health-care workers in Nicaraqua.
- 1986 New Year's Eve fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, claimed 97 lives, mainly in the casino area. Fire set by 3 hotel workers, trying to make tourists stay away from Puerto Rico as a protest to their working wages.
- 1986 TWA Flight 840 bombed on approach to Athens airport; 4 Americans, including an infant, are killed.
- 1986 June 14 ANC bombs Why Not Restaurant and Magoo's Bar in Durban, South Africa, 3 people killed, 73 wounded.
- 1986 July 15 ETA Basque militant group bombs a Guardia Civil police truck, kills 12.
- 1986 April 6 the La Belle discotheque in Berlin, a known hangout for U.S. soldiers, was bombed, killing 3 and injuring 230 people, for which Libya is held responsible. In retaliation, the US bombs Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon and tries to kill dictator Qaddafi.
- 1986 Pan Am Flight 73, an American civilian airliner, is hijacked; 22 people die when plane is stormed in Karachi, Pakistan.
- 1987 Enniskillen massacre. Remembrance Day parade in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh is bombed by the IRA and 11 are killed and 63 injured
- 1987 June 19th, ETA Basque militant group bomb in Hipercor Mall's parking in Barcelona, kills 21, 45 injured.
- 1987 KAL Flight 858 bombed by North Korea.
- 1987 December 11 ETA Basque militant group bomb a Guardia Civil police bedrooms in Zaragoza, kills 11, 40 injured.
- 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing (Lockerbie)
- 1989 Deal barracks bombing: Ten Royal Marines bandsmen are killed and 22 injured when base in Deal, Kent is bombed by the IRA.
- 1989 Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others.
- 1989 September 19 UTA Flight UT-772 kills 171 people
- 1989 Avianca Flight 203 bombed over Colombia
1990s
- 1990 A series of car bombings directed by the IRA in Northern Ireland leave 7 people dead and 37 wounded.
- 1991 Two IRA members are killed by their own bomb in St Albans.
- 1991 May 29 ETA Basque terrorist group bombs the Guardia Civil police barracks in Vic (Barcelona), kill 10.
- 1992 Israeli Embassy bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina; 29 die.
- 1992 Eight Protestant builders killed by an IRA bomb on their way to work at an Army base near Omagh.
- 1993 February 26 World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures over 1000 people
- 1993 Failed New York City landmark bomb plot
- 1993 June 21 ETA Basque terrorist group bombs a military truck in Madrid, kills 7, 36 injured.
- 1993 July 5 the IRA detonate a 1500lb car bomb (the largest used in Northern Ireland) in the centre of Newtownards in Northern Ireland, no one is killed but massive property damage is caused to the town centre.
- 1993 Mir Aimal Kansi, a Pakistani, fires an AK-47 assault rifle into cars waiting at a stoplight in front of the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. Two died.
- 1993 Mumbai car bombings in India
- 1993 IRA bomb in Warrington kills two children (Warrington Bomb Attacks)
- 1993 IRA detonate a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, killing two and causing approximately £350m of damage.
- 1993 October 23 A bomb at a fish and chip shop on the Protestant Shankill Road, Belfast kills 10 people, including two children.
- 1993 October 30 Seven people killed in a Loyalist UFF gun attack in a bar in Greysteel, Co Derry.
- 1994 Bombing of Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 86 and wounds 300. Eight days later the Israeli Embassy in London and a Jewish charity are car-bombed. 20 are wounded. All three incidents are blamed on Hezbollah.
- 1994 July 19 Alas Chiricanas bombing kills 21 people
- 1994 Baruch Goldstein kills 29 Palestinian civilians in an attack on mosque in Hebron.
- 1994 Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked by GIA members who planned to crash the plane on Paris but didn't succeed.
- 1994 A small bomb explodes on board Philippine Airlines flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. Authorities found out that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb to test it for his planned terrorist attack.
- 1994 June 18 Six Catholic men shot dead by Loyalists in a pub in Loughinisland, Co Derry.
- 1995 Operation Bojinka is discovered on a laptop computer in a Manila, Philippines apartment by authorities after an apartment fire occurred in the apartment.
- 1995 March 20 Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by AUM Shinrikyo cultists
- 1995 April 19 ETA Basque militant group tries to kill José María Aznar (then leader of the Popular Party, later a Spanish Prime Minister) bombing his car, kills a woman.
- 1995 April 19 Oklahoma City bombing killing 168 people, 19 of which were children.
- 1995 Islamist terror bombings in France by a GIA unit (Khaled Kelkal being one of the operational leaders)
- 1995 Bombing of military compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 1995 December 11 ETA Basque militant group bombs a militar truck in Madrid, kills 6 civilian public servants.
- 1996 Central Bank Bombing in Sri Lanka kills 90 and wounds 1,400.
- 1996 A series of four suicide bombings in Israel leave 60 dead and 284 wounded within 10 days.
- 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, killing one and wounding 111.
- 1996 IRA break their cease-fire and kill two in a bomb at the Canary Wharf towers in London.
- 1996 Manchester bombing by IRA
- 1996 Khobar Towers bombing
- 1996 April 18 Qana massacre: the killing of over a hundred civilians and when the IDF, under Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, shell a UN refugee camp at Qana (or Kana) in Israeli-occupied Southern Lebanon as part of Operation Grapes of Wrath against Hezbollah guerrillas. Hundreds more refugees are mutilated (e.g. limbs amputated, blinded, etc.) by shrapnel, and some of the dead were beheaded by shrapnel.
- 1997 Islamic terrorists attack tourists in Luxor, Egypt, killing 71 people, most of them European and Japanese vacationers.
- 1997 A terrorist opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine".
- 1997 December 22. Acteal massacre - 46 killed while praying in Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico. A paramilitary group associated with ex-president Salinas is held responsible.
- 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya, killing 225 people and injuring more than 4,000.
- 1998 Omagh bombing by the so-called "Real IRA" kills 29.
- 1999 Gunmen opened fire on Shi'a Muslims worshipping in an Islamabad mosque killing 16 people injuring 25.
- 1999 David Copeland nail bomb attacks against ethnic minorities and gays in London.
- 1999 Ahmed Ressam is arrested on the US-Canada border in Port Angeles, Washington; he confessed to planning to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots
- 1999 Jordanian authorities foil a plot to bomb US and Israeli tourists in Jordan and pick up 28 suspects as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots
- 1999 Indian Airlines Flight 814, which just took off from Kathmandu, Nepal for Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, India is hijacked, one passenger is killed and some hostages are released. After negotiations between the Taliban and the Indian government, the last of the remaining hostages on board Flight 814 are released
- 1999 August 31 - September 22 Russian Apartment Bombings kills about 300 people, leading Russia into Second Chechen War.
2000s
- 2000 The last of the 2000 millennium attack plots fails, as the boat meant to bomb USS The Sullivans sinks
- 2000 Intensification of the campaign of terror attacks on civilians in Israel begun after the signing of the Oslo Accords - see Terrorism against Israel in 2000
- 2000 German police foil Strasbourg cathedral bombing plot
- 2000 June 8 Stephen Saunders, a British Defense Attaché, was assassinated by November 17 (terrorist group)
- 2000 October 12 USS Cole bombing kills 17 US sailors
- 2001 February 5 A bomb blast in Moscow's Byelorusskaya subway station injures 15 people.
- 2001 September 11, 2001 attacks kill almost 3,000 in a series of hijacked airliner crashes into two landmarks: the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane crashes in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
- 2001 Paris embassy attack plot foiled
- 2001 Anthrax attacks on the offices the United States Congress and New York State Government offices, and on employees of television networks and tabloid
- 2001 December 13, 2001 Terrorist attack on Indian Parliament
- 2001 Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians continue - see Terrorism against Israel in 2001, as do attacks on Palestinian civilians by the IDF and Jewish settler paramilitaries
- 2001 Jewish Defense League plot to blow up the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California foiled
- 2001 Richard Reid, attempting to destroy American Airlines Flight 63, is subdued by passengers and flight attendants before he could detonate his shoe bomb
- 2002 Singapore embassies attack plot foiled
- 2002 March 24 Twenty people die and 93 are injured in three bomb attacks on Russian towns near the border of Chechnya
- 2002 Ghriba Synagogue Attack in Tunisia
- 2002 May 8 Bus Attack in Karachi
- 2002 May 9 A bomb explosion in Kaspiisk in Dagestan kills at least 42 people and injures 130 or more during Victory Day festivities.
- 2002 June 14 attack outside U.S. Consulate in Karachi
- 2002 Limburg tanker bombing in Yemen
- 2002 Kidnapping and murder of journalist Daniel Pearl
- 2002 October 12 Bali car bombing of holidaymakers kills 202
- 2002 Zamboanga bombings in the Philippines
- 2002 October 19 A car bomb explodes outside a McDonald's Corp. restaurant in Moscow, killing one person and wounding five.
- 2002 October 23 Moscow theater hostage crisis begins; 120 hostages and 40 terrorists killed in rescue 3 days later.
- 2002 Most deadly year of Palestinian terror campaign against Israel, including the Passover Massacre in which 30 people are killed - see Terrorism against Israel in 2002
- 2002 Kenyan hotel bombing
- 2003 Palestinian terror attacks against Israel continue, including the Maxim restaurant massacre. See Terrorism against Israel in 2003
- 2003 Attacks on Palestinian civilians by the IDF and Jewish settler paramilitaries continue
- 2003 Chechen militants carry out several deadly suicide bombings across Russia and nearby provinces, killing more than 250 people
- 2003 Riyadh Compound Bombings - bombings of United States expat housing compounds in Saudi Arabia kill 26 and injure 160. Al-Qaeda blamed
- 2003 Casablanca Attacks in Casablanca, Morocco leaves 41 dead. The attack involved 12 bombers and 5 targets. The targets were "Western and Jewish". Attack attributed to a Moroccan al-Qaeda-linked group
- 2003 Canal Hotel Bombing in Baghdad, Iraq kills 22 people including the top UN representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello
- 2003-2004 In response to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Iraqi resistance in that country stage dozens of suicide bombings, kidnappings and several beheadings targeting Iraqi, Coalition and humanitarian targets. Attacks on some coalition forces may not be terrorist attacks under Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions which gives lawful combatant status to non-uniformed guerrillas resisting foreign occupation if they display arms openly. As neither the US or Iraq have signed this protocol it is not applicable to attacks on US forces.
- 2003 Istanbul Bombings: Within five days, truck bombs go off at two synagogues, the British Consulate, and the HSBC Bank in Istanbul, Turkey killing a top British diplomate.
- 2003 May 12 A truck bomb attack on a government building in the Chechen town of Znamenskoye kills 59
- 2003 May 14 As many as 16 die in a suicide bombing at a religious festival in southeastern Chechnya
- 2003 July 5 15 people die and 40 are injured in bomb attacks at a rock festival in Moscow
- 2003 August 1 An explosion at the Russian hospital in Mozdok in North Ossetia kills at least 50 people and injures 76
- 2003 September 3 A bomb blast on a passenger train near Kislovodsk in southern Russia kills seven people and injures 90
- 2003 October 15 - A bomb is detonated by Palestinians against a US diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip killing three Americans
- 2003 December 5 Suicide bombers kill at least 46 people in an attack on a train in southern Russia
- 2003 December 9 A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds at least 11
- 2004 Violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 2004
- 2004 109 Kurds are killed in 2 suicide bombings in Arbil, Iraq
- 2004 February 6 Bomb on Moscow subway kills 41
- 2004 February 27 Superferry 14 is bombed in the Philippines by Abu Sayyaf, killing 116.
- 2004 Suicide bombings at Shia holy sites in Iraq kill 181 and wound more than 500 during the Ashura.
- 2004 Attack on procession of Shia Muslims in Pakistan kills 43 and wounds 160
- 2004 March 9 Attack of Istanbul restaurant in Turkey
- 2004 March 11 bombing of commuter trains in Madrid, Spain kills 191 people and injures more than 1,500
- 2004 April 21 Basra bombs in Iraq
- 2004 April 21 Bombing of a security building in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia kills 5
- 2004 May 29 Al-Khobar massacres--Islamic terrorists kill 22 people at an oil compound in Saudi Arabia.
- 2004 August 24 Russian airplane bombings kill 90
- 2004 August 31 A blast near a subway station entrance in northern Moscow, caused by a suicide bomber, kills 10 people and injures 33
- 2004 September 1 - 3 Beslan school hostage crisis in North Ossetia, Russia results in over 330 dead
- 2004 September 9 Jakarta embassy bombing - the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia was bombed, killing eight people
- 2004 October 7 Three car bombs explode in the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 32 and wounding 114, most of them Israeli tourists.
- 2004 December 6 Suspected al Qaeda-linked group attacks U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 5 local employees.
- 2004 December 12 Bombing at Christmas market in General Santos, Philippines killing 15.
See also
External links, resources, references
fr:Attentat
nl:Lijst van terroristische aanslagen
zh-cn:恐怖活动
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