Terrorism Incidents 1999 – 2004

1999

January 9
UK oil worker kidnapped in Yemen, who is later released. Tribesmen believed to be behind this and other kidnapping in Yemen and ransoms usually resulted in the hostages being freed unharmed.

January 17
Four Dutch and two UK citizens kidnapped in Yemen, who are later released.

January 27
Three Germans kidnapped in Yemen, who are later released.

January 31
One UK citizen kidnapped in Yemen, who are later released.

February 18
FARC guerrillas in Columbia kidnap five foreigners, who are all subsequently released.

February 25
FARC guerrillas in Columbia kidnap and kill three Americans. 28
16 bombs in Zambian capital Lusaka, kills one and injures two.

April 3
One Frenchman and six locals kidnapped in Ethiopia, who are later released.

April 12
ELN guerrillas in Columbia hijack airliner with seven passengers on board, who are later released.

April 27
Intercontinental Hotel in Athens, Greece, blown up by unidentified attackers resulting in one death.

May 15
One New Zealander and a local colleague kidnapped by Chechen militants and later released.

May 30
ELN guerrillas kidnap 160 people, including six Americans, in the Columbian town of Cuidad Jardin. They are subsequently released in batches over the remainder of the year.
June 6
ELN guerrillas kidnap nine people in Columbia, including one American. 16
Attempted assassination of retired police special branch officer in Whitley Bay, UK, by Real IRA.

July 14
Four Belgians kidnapped in Yemen, who are later released.

July 30
FARC guerrillas in Columbia hijack airliner, passengers all later released.

August 6
Tajikistan rebels kidnap four government officials in Kyrgyzstan, who are later released after ranson paid.

August 16
Two Russians and two Poles kidnapped Dagestan by Chechen rebels who are released later in year.

August 22
French diplomat and wife kidnapped in Yemen, who are later released

August 22
Radical Islamic militant in Uzbekistan kidnap four Japanese archaeologists and 91 local people, who are all subsequently released.

September 11
FARC guerrillas in Columbia kidnap 11 westerners.

October 26
Three Americans kidnapped in Yemen, who are later released.

November 3
FARC guerrillas in Columbia hijack Panamanian helicopters and kidnap seven crew, who are all eventually released.

November 12
Seven rocket propelled grenades fired at US embassy, US cultural centre and UN building in Islamabad, Pakistan. No injuries.

December 24
Islamic militants hijack Indian Airlines Airbus after it takes off from Katmandu in Nepal, taking 200 passengers and crew hostage. Flying via Pakistan and UAE, the aircraft lands in Kabul, Afghanistan. The hijackers demands for the release of 36 Kashmiri militants held in Indian prisons is met and the hostages and subsequently released safely.

2000

January 18
Two Frenchmen kidnapped in Yemen, who are later released. 26
One American kidnapped in Yemen, who is later released.

April 24
Abu Sayyaf Group from Philippines kidnap 21 people in Malaysia, including 12 foreign tourists, setting off a major campaign of kidnapping.

June 8
British defence attaché Brigadier Stephen Saunders killed in Athens by gunmen from Greek leftwing 17 November militants.

June 11
Norwegian diplomat and son kidnapped in Yemen. He is killed when security forces stage rescue mission. One of the hijackers also dies.

July 2
Abu Sayyaf Group in Philippines kidnap German journalist who is later released unharmed.

August 12
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan militants kidnaps four Americans in Kyrgyzstan. They are later released unharmed.

October 1
Bomb attack blamed on Islamic militants on church in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, kills seven and injures 70.

October 12
FARC guerrillas in Columbia hijack helicopters and kidnap 10 people including five Americans.

October 12
USS Cole attacked by suicide bombers and 17 sailors killed and 13 injured. Attack blamed on Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

October 13
Small bomb in British embassy in Sanna, Yemen, causes minor damage. 19
Tamil Tiger militants in Sri Lanka explode suicide bomb in Colombo killing four and injuring 23.

November 2
Two Israelis killed by a powerful car bomb at central Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market. This is the start of a long bombing campaign, including regular use of suicide bombers, against Israeli cities by Palestinian groups that kills hundreds and injures thousands. Approximately 473 Israeli civilians have been killed and 3000 injured in attacks by Palestinian militants inside Israel between 2000 and June 2004.

November 19
Israeli vice consul survives gun attack by Islamic militants in Amman, Jordan.

December 5
Israeli diplomat wounded in gun attack in Amman, Turkey, by Islamic militants.

December 30
Bomb explodes outside US embassy in Manilla, Phillipines.

2001
January 3
El Al airline office in Zurich bombed causing minor damage.

March 15
Aircraft hijacked from Istanbul, Turkey, to Saudi Arabia and 162 people taken hostage. Three Russian and a Turk killed when security forces storm aircraft.

April 22
Chechen militants take 120 hostages in Istanbul, Turkey, including four Russians and 16 Swiss. All eventually released unharmed.

May 2
US doctor injured by letter bomb in Saudi Arabia.

May 26
Abu Sayyaf Group in Philippines kidnap 20 foreigners, including three Americans. One of the Americans was later beheaded. The bulk of the hostages are held for more than a year.

June 2
Abu Sayyaf Group in Philippines kidnap 200 foreigners but security forces intervene and free them all but five of them.

June 5
Iranian consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, badly damaged in car bomb attack that leaves 12 dead and injures 28.

September 9
Two hijacked airliners flown into World Trade Centre in New York, USA, resulting in the deaths of some 3,000 people. Another hijacked airliner strikes the Pentagon in Washington, DC, killing 189 people and injuring 86. Another 44 people die when a hijacked airliner crashes in Pennsylvania after the passengers clash with their hijackers. Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda networked blamed for the attack.

October 6
Suicide bomber attacks Al Khober shopping area killing one US citizen and injures five others.

October 27
Anthrax discovered in mail room of office building near US Senate in Washington DC. This followed by other incidents in New York and Florida. Two people die of infection in Washington, one dies in New York and one dies in Florida. At least 13 people inflected but survive. Some 13,300 postal workers treated with antibiotics as precaution. As yet the source of the Anthrax is unknown and no one has been apprehended.

December 13
Islamic militants stage attack on Indian parliament while it is in session, which results in 13 militants and members of the security forces being killed.

December 23
Richard Reid attempts to blow up plane flying from Paris to Miami with shoe bomb but he is overpowered by other passengers and aircraft lands safely.

2002

January 22
US Consulate in Calcutta, India, is attacked by gun men who kill five Indian security men and injure 13.

January 23
Wall Street Journalist Daniel Pearl kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants in Karachi, Pakistan.

January 31
US tourist killed on Mount Pinathibo, Philippines, by Islamic militants.

February 28
Car bomb by Islamic militants in Amman, Jordan, kills the wife of country’s anti-terrorist unit.

March 14
US civilian killed in drive by shooting in Bogata, Columbia.

March 17
Five killed and 46 injured in grenade attack by Islamic militants on Protestant church in Islamabad, Pakistan.

March 20
Car bomb in near US embassy in Lima, Peru, kills nine and injures 32. Moaist Shinning Path guerrillas suspected.

April 11
Islamic militants explode gas truck at Djerba, Tunisia, killing 21 people, including 11 Germans and one Frenchmen, and injured 26.

May 8
Suicide bomb by Islamic militants attack on bus carrying French employees on submarine project in Karachi, Pakistan, kills 10 Frenchmen and two Pakistanis.

May 9
Chechen rebels explode bomb at Kapiisk, Dagestan, during May Day parade kills 42 and injures 150.

June 7
Philippine security forces storm Abu Sayyaf Group base in attempt to free foreign hostages captured a year before. One American hostage was killed but the man’s wife was rescued safely.

June 14
Car bomb near US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, kills eleven and injures 51 men.

October 6
French flagged Limburg oil tanker, attacked by suicide bombers off coast of Yemen killing one crew member and sending more than 90,000 barrels of oil pouring into the Gulf of Aden

October 8
One US Marine killed in gun battle with Islamic militants on Failaka Island off the coast of Kuwait.

October 12
A night club in Bali, Indonesia, is attacked by a car bomb killing 187 international tourists and injuring some 300 people. Indonesian-based Islamic militants blamed for the attack.

October 23
Some 50 Chechen militants seize the Palace of Culture, Moscow in Russia, and hold some 800 hostages for five days before the security forces use gas to end the siege. All the Chechens and 124 hostages die in the assault.

October 25
Bomb in McDonalds branch in Moscow, Russia, kills one and injures eight.

October 28
US diplomat killed in gun attack by Islamic militant in Amman, Jordan.

November 3
Six Islamic militants connect to Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network killed in missile attack from US Predator unmanned aerial vehicle in Yemen.

November 18
An Islamic militant attempts to hijack an El Al aircraft after taking off from Istanbul, Turkey, but he is overpowered by Israeli ‘sky marshal’. 21
Two US soldiers killed in gun attack on their vehicle in Kuwait by policeman, who is subsequently arrested.

November 21
A US citizen is killed in gun attack by Islamic militants in Lebanon. 28
Paradise Hotel in Mombassa, Kenya, attack by Islamic militants and 12 Kenyans and three Israelis killed, and 40 people wounded. An Israeli airliner was shot at with a SA-7 manportable surface-to-air missile at Mombassa airport but misses.

2003

January 21
A US citizen is killed in gun attack in Kuwait which is blamed on Islamic militants.

February 20
UK citizen killed in gun attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but the assailant, a Yemeni supporter of Osama bin Laden, is later captured.

March 31
Airliner hijacked in Cuba and eventually flown to Florida, where all passengers released.

April 2
Bomb at Dawao airport in the Philippines kills 16 people and injures. Islamic militants blamed.

May 12
Islamic militant suicide bombers attack three compounds housing westerners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 35 and injuring 194.

May 16
Islamic militant suicide bombers mount five simultaneous attacks on tourists centres in Casablanca, Morocco, killing 42 and leaving more than 100 injured.

June 4
Letter bombs containing the nerve agent adamite sent to UK, US and Saudi Arabian embassies and several government buildings in Brussels, Belgium. Three people exposed and show minor symptoms. Attack attributed to Iraqi national.

June 14
Gun battle in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, leaves five Islamic militants and two policemen dead.

July 28
Two Saudi Arabian policemen killed in gun battle with Islamic militants in Al Qassim, which leaves six militants dead.

August 2
Jordanian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, devastated by truck bomb leaving 19 dead and 50 I injured.

August 5
Jakarta Marriot Hotel hit by bomb which leaves 12 dead. Indonesian Islamic militants blamed.

August 19
UN headquarters Baghdad, Iraq, destroyed by suicide bomb leaves 23 dead, including the head of the UN mission, and more than 100 injured.

September 23
Saudi Arabian police raid hide out of Islamic militants in Jizan and three die in subsequent gun battle along with one policeman.

October 2
Abu Sayyaf Group militants kidnap six foreign tourists in Sabah, Malaysia. One escapes and five are later found dead in Philippines after being executed.

November 3
Gun battle between Islamic militants and Saudi Arabian police near Mecca results in two deaths

November 8
Suicide bomb attack by Islamic militants on compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, kills 17 mainly Muslim foreign workers

November 20
Suicide bomber attacks on British consulate and a branch of HSBC bank in Istanbul, Turkey, leaves 27 dead and hundreds injured

2004

January 29
Six die including five policemen in a gun battle with Islamic militants in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

March 11
10 bombs on commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, kill around 191 people. Islamic militants. On 3rd April seven of the Islamic militants are cornered in a apartment block in Leganes and detonates a bomb as special forces troops move to arrest them. The men of North African origin are killed along with one Spaniard. Eleven people injured in the explosion.

April 13
Four policemen are killed in two gun battles with Islamic militants near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

April 22
Suicide bomber attack on security services headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, kills 15 and injures 145.

May 1
Six western oil workers and a Saudi killed in a gun attack on an oil company facility in Yanbu, western Saudi Arabia.

May 6
Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov killed and 30 injured in bomb attack on ceremony at stadium in Grozny. Chechen rebels blamed for the attack. 20
Four Islamic militants killed in gun battle with Saudi Arabia security forces near Buraida.

May 22
German national killed by gunmen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

May 29
Islamic militants seize oil compound Al Khobar, eastern Saudi Arabia and take hostages. Some 22 foreignes killed during the initial attack and subsequent rescue mission by Saudi special forces. One militant killed and at least three escape.

June 6
A BBC cameraman killed and journalist badly injured during gun attack in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

June 8
US employee of Northrop Grumman subsidiary Vinnell killed by gunmen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

June 11
US national killed by gunmen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

June 12
US employee of Lockheed Martin kidnapped in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

June 24
Two Russian airplanes carrying a total of 90 passengers and crew crash after flying out of Moscow, which are linked to Chechen rebels.

June 31
At least 10 people die in a suicide bombing outside an underground railway station in Moscow, which is linked to Chechen rebels.

September 1-3
Beslan’s No 1 school in North Ossetia is seized by Chechen separatists who take more than 1,000 children and adults. Some 320 people are killed in a chaotic rescue attempt by Russian security forces.

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Article © 2004 Tim Ripley