Terrorism Incidents 1990 – 1998

1990

March 22

Canadian scientist Gerald Bull murdered in his flat in Brussels, Belgium, by an unknown gunman. In 1996 the Belgian police asked for the extradition of Victor Ostrovsky from Canada.

April 10

Irish Republican Army bomb at the Baltic Exchange in the City of London, England, kills three and injures ninety one civilians.

May 20

Seven Palestinian civilians murdered in Palestine when off-duty Israeli soldier Ami Popper goes mad and runs amok with assault rifle.

July 30

Conservative politician Ian Gow killed by Irish Republican Army bomb at his home in England.

August 1

Iraqi troops invade Kuwait and seize 10,000 western civilians living in Iraq and Kuwait as human shield hostages in response to US and allied military deployments aimed at recapturing the Gulf state. All the hostages are eventually released by the end of the year.

October 7

Israeli police open fire on Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, Israeli occupied West Bank, killing seventeen and wounding nearly one hundred and fifty. The incident began after Israeli police overreacted to stone throwing by the Palestinians.

1991

February 7

Irish Republican Army fired mortar at Downing Street residence of British Prime Minister John Major in central London, England. No one injured and terrorists escape.

April 1

Red Army Faction terrorists kill German industrial chief Detlev Rohwedder at his home in Dusseldorf, Germany, in their last reported action.

May 21

Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi shares the fate of his mother and is assassinated by Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in Madras, India.

June 4

Three Irish Republican Army terrorists killed in gun battle with British Special Air Service troops in Coagh, Northern Ireland, during an attempt to kill local Protestant civilians.

1992

February 5

Five Catholic civilians killed by Protestant terrorists in betting shop, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

February 16

Four Irish Republic Army terrorists killed by British Special Air Service troops during abortive attack on a police station in Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

March 17

Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, devastated by bomb killing twenty and injuring scores more. Islamic terrorists suspected.

May 2

One tourist was killed by Islamic Jihad terrorist who attacked the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat. Two terrorists were killed and one captured during the Israeli Defence Force follow-up operation.

October 21

British female tourist shot during Islamic terrorist attack on tourist group at Beirut, Egypt.

1993

January 8

Islamic terrorists attempt to bomb bus carrying German tourists in Egypt. No one injured in attack. A day earlier Japanese tourists had been fired upon by terrorists in southern Egypt.

February 26

World Trade Centre in New York, USA, badly damaged by a massive bomb planted by Islamic terrorists. The car bomb was planted in an underground garage and left six people dead and more than one thousand people injured.

February 28

Branch Davidion cult barricade themselves into their compound at Waco, United States, after an abortive Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms raid leaves four Federal agents and six cult members dead. Eighty six cult members, including their leader David Koresh, die when the compound burns down during an assault by Federal agents on 19 April.

March 20

Irish Republican Army bomb shopping mall in Warrington, England, killing two children and injury fifty six civilians.

April 14

Iraqi intelligence service attempt to assassinate former US President, George Bush, during a visit to Kuwait. Two months later the US launches a cruise missile attack on the Iraqi capital Baghdad in retaliation.

April 24

City of London financial district devastated by Irish Republican Army bomb, killing one civilian and causing US$1.5 billion in damage.

May 1

Sri Lankan president Ranasingle Premadasa blown up by Tamil Tiger suicide bomber who had explosives wrapped around chest.

June 22

A geneticist at the University of California, San Francisco, United States, injured in a bomb attack attributed to the so-called Unabomber.

June 24

A computer scientist is injured in another Unabomber attack on Yale University, New Haven, United States.

June 27

German GSG9 anti-terrorist commando killed in shoot out with Red Army Faction terrorists at Bad Kleinen, Germany. One of the terrorists was killed and another captured.

September 8
Nineteen killed and twenty two injured in Johannesburg, South Africa, by pro-Zulu terrorists in run up to general election.

September 12

Dr Adimael Guzman, leader of the Shinning Path guerrilla group is captured by the Peruvian Security forces but he still is thought to lead the group’s terrorist campaign from his jail cell.

October 23

Irish Republican Army bomb shop in Belfast, Northern Ireland, leaving ten dead. A week later seven civilians were shot dead in retaliation for the Shankill bombing by Protestant terrorists in a bar in Greysteel, Northern Ireland.

December 2

Colombian drug cartel chief Pablo Escobar is killed in gun battle with security forces in Medellin, Columbia. To maintain control of his drug empire he is said to have been responsible for the death of 1,000 civilians and 500 policemen.

1994

February 25

Jewish right wing extremist Baruch Goldstein machine guns twenty nine worshippers at a mosque in Hebron, Palestine. Israeli security forces criticised for not intervening sooner to stop the killing.

April 6

Rwandan president Juvenel Habyarimana killed when his aircraft shot down by surface-to-air missile while approaching Kigali airport, Rwanda, on his return from a regional government leaders meeting. The incident sparks massive outbreak of ethnic violence that results in more than a million people being killed. Ten Belgian paratroopers serving with the United Nations in Kigali are hacked to death by rebels.

April 24

African National Congress offices in Johannesburg, South Africa, devastated by 90 kg bomb killing nine civilians and injuring ninety two. Right-wing extremists trying to disrupt the country’s first democratic election are blamed. Three days later another right-ring bomb wounds twenty, including four seriously, at Jan Smuts airport.

June 14

Chechen rebels take one thousand hostages at Budennovsk, Russia. Some one hundred and fifty are killed during abortive rescue attempt by Russian Army. The Chechens are later allowed to escape by the Russian Government in return for the freedom of the remaining hostages.

June 20

Six civilians were gunned down in bar at Loughinisland, Northern Ireland, by Irish Republican Army terrorists.

Bomb explosion at Mashhad, Iran, kills twenty five civilians. Opposition groups fighting to overthrow the country’s Islamic regime are blamed for the attack.

July 18

Forty civilians killed in bomb attack on Jewish social centre in Buneos Aires, Argentina. Iranians diplomats in the city are expelled after being connected with the incident.

July 26

Khmer Rogue terrorists kidnap Australian, British and French tourists in Cambodia. Along with two other western tourists they are all killed later in the year.

September 19

November 17 terrorists explode bomb on bus in Greece, killing one policeman and injuring thirteen others.

October 19

Hamas suicide bomber kills twenty two civilians and injures forty seven on a bus in the centre of Tel Aviv, Israel.

October 23

Two Spanish nuns murdered by Islamic GIA terrorists in Algeria.

December 12

The second fatal victim of the so-called Unabomber, an advertising executive, is killed in a bomb attack at North Caldwell, New Jersey, United States.

December 24

Air France Airbus seized by Algerian Islamic terrorists and forced to fly to Marseilles airport, France. All the terrorists were killed when French CIGN counter-terrorist troops stormed the aircraft and rescued the 170 passengers and crew, 16 of whom suffered minor injuries.

1995

March 20

Twelve civilians killed and thousands injured in a Sarin nerve gas attack on the Kasumigaski subway station in the centre of Tokyo, Japan. The Aum Shinrikyo cult were blamed for the attack which involved placing gas containers in subway stations and trains. A major police clamp down on the cult followed the attack with its leader Shoko Asahara being arrested two months later. The previous June seven people died and one hundred and fifty were injured in a gas attack in Matsumoto, Japan, also perpetrated by the Aum. In that attack, the gas was sprayed from tanks in a van in an attempt to assassinate a judge. Subsequent investigation identified the gas as Sarin nerve agent.

April 19

Federal Building in Oklahoma City, United States, totally destroyed by massive truck bomb killing 166 people and injuring hundreds more. Rightwing extremists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nicholson arrested for the largest terrorist attack in modern American history.

April 24

The third and final victim of the Unabomber, a lumber lobbyist, is killed in Sacramento, United States. On 4 April 1996, Theodore J. Kaczynski is finally arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation under suspicion of being the so-called Unabomber. In total three people were killed and 23 wounded in the 16 bombings attributed to Kaczynski since 1978.

May 5

Five foreign oil workers murdered by Islamic GIA terrorists in Algeria, as their campaign against the military regime gathers pace.

May 26

More than 360 United Nations peacekeepers held hostage by the Bosnian Serb army as “human shields” after NATO air strikes on their capital Pale. The UN personnel are tied to key military targets for several days until released during June.

June 19

Bomb planted by Basque ETA terrorists kills a policeman in Madrid, Spain.

June 26

Assassination attempt made against Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak in Addis Abbaba by Islamic radicals who ambushed his motorcade.

July 7

Five British, German, Norwegian and American tourists kidnapped by Kashmiri rebels in the north of the disputed province of India. One was found beheaded in October and the other four were never seen again. In May 1996 it emerged that they had been shot and buried by their captors, as they tried to escape from pursuing Indian security forces. No confirmation has yet been found to support these claims.

July 25

Algerian GIC Islamic terrorists explode bomb in metro station in Paris, France, killing seven people and injuring eighty four.

October 20

Eight civilians die when mosque bombed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

November 4

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin assassinated by right wing Jewish radical Yigal Amir when leaving a peace rally in Tel Aviv, Israel.

November 13

Seven foreigners, including a number of US servicemen, are killed in bomb attack on National Guard training centre at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

November 19

Islamic radicals plant bomb in Egyptian embassy in Pakistan killing seventeen.

December 11

Large bomb planted by Basque ETA terrorists kills six sailors and injured eighteen civilians in Madrid, Spain. Prompts a large anti-ETA demonstration in the city.

15 car bombings in Algiers by Algerian GIA Islamic terrorists kill fifteen civilians and hundreds more injured.

December 25

Six hundred Zulu Inkatha Party supporters seize Shobashobane village, South Africa, killing nineteen African National Congress supporters.

1996

January 9

Nine Chechen rebels seize three thousand civilian hostages in Kizlyar, Dagestan, in protest at the continued Russian occupation of their homeland. Russian troops try to rescue the hostages but the operations turn into a bloody battle, with the security forces using artillery and attack helicopters to kill the rebels. Hundreds killed and most of the Chechens escape. Other Chechen rebels seize a ship in Turkey, taking 118 Russians and 4 Turks hostage before they surrendered to the Turkish authorities. No loss of life.

Three civilians killed in gun attack on bus in Turkey by Del Sol left wing terrorist.

January 31

Tamil Tiger suicide bombers set off massive car bomb in the centre of business district of Columbo, Sri Lanka, killing eight and injuring 1,400 civilians. Security forces intercept other suicide bombers and prevent further carnage.

February 11

Algerian GIA terrorists explode car bomb in Algiers killing seventeen. The following month, two more are killed in another GIA bomb in the Berroughi and ten are killed in a train ambush in western Algeria.

February 16

Irish Republican Army breaks its 18 month old ceasefire by exploding a massive bomb in the Dockland’s district of London, England. Two civilians are killed and scores injured. Two days later a member of the terrorist organisation was killed when a bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely on a London bus. Several other passengers were seriously injured.

February 24

Two Cuban MiG fighters shoot down a light aircraft flown by four Cuban exiles of the “Brothers to the Rescue” organisation over the Gulf of Mexico.

February 25

Hamas suicide bomber kills 26 Israeli civilians on a bus in the Palestinian town of Hebron. An hour later one Israeli is killed and thirty five injured in Ashkelon, Israel, by another Hamas bomb. The following day a Palestinian rams a bus queue in Tel Aviv Israel, killing one and wounding twenty three civilians.

March 3

Eighteen killed and ten wounded in Hamas suicide bomb attack on bus in Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine. Thirteen civilians are killed and scores wounded the following day when another Hamas suicide bomber attacks a shopping mall in Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv.

March 25

The so-called Montana Freemen begin a confrontation with Federal authorities in Montana, United States. Some twenty five members of the group hold out until surrendering in June 1996.

April 19

Eighteen Greek tourists were gunned down near the historic Pyramids in Egypt by Islamic terrorists aiming to destroy the country’s tourist industry.

June 15

Irish Republican Army terrorists devastate the centre of Manchester, United Kingdom, with a truck bomb that injures hundreds of civilians and causes several hundred million dollars worth of damage. In April the IRA tried to blow up Hammersmith bridge in London but the large device failed to explode.

June 25

Islamic radical terrorists opposed to the western military presence in the Gulf region, explode a truck bomb next to a USAF housing area at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American servicemen and 385 injuring more.

June 29

A British Army base in Osnabruck, Germany, comes under Irish Republican Army mortar fire. No casualties are caused after the mortars miss their target, a petroleum storage area.

July 17

Tamil Tiger guerillas explode a train bomb killing 70 and injuring 600 people in Sri Lanka after Government troops mounted in successful offensive on the east of the island.
August 3

One person killed and 111 people killed in small bomb explosion in Centennial Square during Atlanta Olympics Games. Another person dies of heart attack after the explosion for which responsibility is not claimed by any group.

August 26

Six Iraqi dissidents hijack a Sudan Airways A310 Airbus airliner en route from Khartoom to Jordan and divert it to Stanstead, England. After eight and one half hours negotiating with British authorities the hijackers release all the 13 crew and 180 passengers unharmed.

September 23

A major Irish Republican Army bombing campaign in London, England, is thwarted when British police raid a house in the capital. Police marksmen shoot dead IRA member Diatmuid O’Neill in the raid and arrest five other people. Further raids in London net 10 tones of improvised explosives, three AK-47 assault rifles, two pistols and bomb making equipment.

October 7

Irish Republican Army terrorists penetrate security at the British Army’s Northern Ireland Headquarters at Lisburn, south of Belfast, to plant two car bombs. One soldier is killed in the blasts and 30 other people injured.

November 23

Ethopian Airways Boeing 767 hijacked enroute from Addis Adaba to Niarobi and diverted to Australia. It runs out of fuel and crashes into the Indian Ocean near Comoros Islands killing 123 people, 52 people including two hijackers survive.

December 20

Irish Republican Army terrorists try to kill Unionist politician in a Belfast hospital, injuring a policeman. The attack sparks a series of bomb attacks, mortar and rocket attacks on the security forces that continue on a daily basis into January. Protestant terrorists also stage car bomb attacks on republicans.

December 23

Corsican militants explode a bomb at the French national statistics office in Paris causing no casualties.

A car bomb in the Algerian capital, Algiers, kills three and injures 70 people in cafe near the port. Islamic GIA guerillas are blamed. The day before a child had been killed in a bomb explosion at a school in the west of the country.

December 24

21 UN observers taken hostage by Tajik guerillas loyal to warlord Rizvon Sadirov. They were all eventually freed unharmed.

Four people killed by pipe bomb in supermarket in Worcester, near Cape Town, South Africa, and dozen injured in the blast, which was attributed to white extremists of the Afrikaaner Resistance Movement (AWB).

December 25

Tibetan activists explode bomb in Lhassa, Tibet, near government offices in protest at Chinese rule, injuring five people.

December 29

A car bomb in the centre of Algiers, Algeria, kills 28 people and injures 35 people. This is the third GIA car bomb in the past week, killing 13 people and injuring more than 250.

December 31

60 people killed when train is blown up by bomb in Sensapani, Assam, India, by tribal guerillas and some 60 people injured. Three more bridges were destroyed in a series of bombings during the following week.

1997

January 1

Jewish fanatic, Noam Friedman, opens fire with machine gun in Hebron market injuring 11 Palestinians in protests of concessions by the Israeli Government to the Palestinians.

January 3

Four killed when Muslim rebels opposing Indian rule explode car bomb in Kashmiri capital, Srinigar, and injure three policemen.

January 7

Two killed and 15 injured when bomb explodes near army headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria, when a bus full of soldiers were driving past.

A car bomb in Algiers, Algeria, kills 13 and wounds 100 after being exploded in a shopping centre. GIA rebels kill 34 in two attacks on villages over the previous week.

January 9

Basque ETA terrorists shot dead a Spanish army colonel outside his home in Madrid.

Two Arab bombs in Tel Aviv, Israel, leaves 13 injured.

January 13

GIA Islamic rebels slit the throats of 14 villagers and behead them in an attack near the city of Bilda, Algeria.

January 14

Letter bombs explode at the officers of the Arab newspaper, Al-Hayat, in London and at the UN Building in New York. Two security guards were injured in London.

January 16

Two bombs explode outside abortion clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, injuring several bystanders. No group claimed responsibility.

A car bomb in Boufarik, Algeria, kills 12 and injures dozens more in attack by the GIA Islamic guerillas.

An ethnic Albania university lecturer is injured by a remotely controlled car bomb in Pristina, capital of the Kosovo region of Serbia.

January 19

A car bomb in Algiers kills 45 and wounds 60, hours after another 36 people were killed by Algerian rebels south of the capital. A further 79 people were killed in attacks on villages the following day. A further bombing on the next day killed 18 and injured 44.

January 21

Seven people were killed when gunmen attacked the Iranian cultural centre in Multan, Pakistan. The centre’s director was killed in the attack, which was claimed by a Shite religious group.

Five people were killed in bomb attack on the Algerian garrison town of Blida.

January 30

Four killed and 40 injured by 155 lb dynamite bomb in city centre of Medellin, Colombia. Left wing rebels were blamed for the attack on the civic group building.

Muslim fundamentalist guerillas in Algeria kill 28 people with knives in attack on village to south of Algiers.

February 10

Spanish supreme court judge killed by two masked gunman outside his home in Madrid. A military driver was killed and seven men injured in a car bomb attack in Granada. Basque terrorist group ETA suspected of both attacks.

February 12

British Army soldier shot by sniper in South Armagh, Northern Ireland.

February 16

North Korean exile defector gunned down in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

February 18

Policeman killed in Bilbao, Spain, by car bomb, blamed on Basque group ETA.

February 24

One killed and 13 injured in bomb attack in Algeria.

March 7

Two people killed in bus bomb attack in Beijing, China, which is blamed on Muslim extremists.

March 22

32 civilians killed with knives and axes in attack by Muslim guerillas in northeast Algeria.

April 6

More than 90 civilians killed by Muslim guerillas in a series of attacks in Algeria, using chain saws and knives, other victims were burnt alive.

April 22

93 attackers killed with knives, axes and shovels by Muslim guerillas to the south of the Algerian capital, Algiers. A further 42 people were killed in a similar attack the following day.

Peruvian security forces retake the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Lima, freeing 72 hostages held by left wing guerillas since 17 December 1996. One hostage died during the rescue, and 14 rebels were killed in the assault.

May 4

Two car bombs killed 15 people and wounded 23 people in attack in northwest Algeria.

July 30

Suicide bomb attack in Israel and another attack on 4 September kills a total of 20 Israelis. Palestinian extremists blamed.

September 18

Nine German tourists killed when Muslim fundamentalists fire bombed and machine gunned a bus in central Cairo, Egypt. The following day a policeman was killed in southern Egypt in a gun attack.

September 22

200 people massacred by Muslim guerillas in suburb of Algerian capital, in attack with axes and knives.

November 17

58 western tourists killed and dozens injured in gun attack on party visiting historic monuments in southern Egypt. Attack blamed on Islamic guerillas after six are killed in shoot out with police.

December 23

Three killed and 70 wounded in car bomb attack in central district of the Algerian capital, Algiers.

1998

January 31

Basque ETA gunman shoots dead the leader of a Spanish political party and his wife in Seville.

June 24

Spanish Boeing 727 airliner hijacked on internal flight, with 130 people onboard. All eventually freed unharmed after the single hijacker gave himself up.

August 7

US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar-es-Salem, Tanzania, heavily damaged by massive bomb attacks. In the Nairobi attack 247 people were killed, including 12 Americans, and 4,000 injured. Ten people were killed and 74 injured in Tanzania incident. US intelligence blames Islamic groups linked to Saudi dissident Osama Bin Laden.

August 15

24 dead and 220 injured when large car bomb destroys centre of Omagh, Northern Ireland. Breakaway Republican group, the Real IRA, claims responsibility.

August 20

US President Bill Clinton orders reprisal strikes for embassy bombings against “terrorist” bases in Afghanistan and Sudan. Attacks coincide with Congressional questioning of Monica Lewinsky. No other nation is able to confirm terrorist links of targets.

August 25

Three people killed and 25 injured in bomb attack on Planet Hollywood restaurant in Cape Town, South Africa. Muslims Against Global Oppression claims responsibility.

August 27

18 injured in Tel Aviv bombing.

October 3

The four foreigner telecom workers, three British men and a New Zealander, were kidnapped in the Chechen capital, Grozny, before being beheaded in December.

October 19

Ulster Loyalist leader, Billy Wright, murdered by IRA prisoner inside the Maze Prison, Northern Ireland.

December 28

Yemini militants kidnap a group of western tourists, including 12 Britons, 2 Americans, and 2 Australians on the main road to Aden. Four victims were killed during a rescue attempt the next day.

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