TERRORIST ATTACKS

(against Americans)

1961

May 1, First U.S. Aircraft Hijacked. Puerto Rican born Antuilo Ramierez Ortiz forced at gunpoint a National Airlines plane to fly to Havana, Cuba, where he was given asylum.

1975

Jan. 27, New York City: small incendiary bomb set off in historical Fraunces Tavern, targeting Wall Street business executives, killed four and injured more than 50 persons. Puerto Rican nationalist group (FALN) claimed responsibility and police tied 13 other bombings to it.

1975

January 29,  Washington, D.C. The Weather Underground claims responsibility for an explosion in a bathroom at the U.S. Department of State in Washington D.C.  No one was killed nor injured.

1979

November 4, Tehran, Iran, After President Carter agreed to admit the Shah of Iran into the U.S., Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 66 American diplomats hostage. Thirteen hostages were soon released, but the remaining 53 were held until their release on January 20, 1981.

1981

August 31, Ramstein, West Germany. The Red Army exploded a bomb at the U.S. Air Force Base at Ramstein, West Germany. None were killed nor injured.

1982

August, Hawaii, Arab Organization of 15 May killed 1 and injured 14 with a time-delay bomb that exploded on an airplane just before it landed in Hawaii.

1983

April 18, Beirut, Lebanon: U.S. Embassy is destroyed in suicide truck-bomb attack; 63 dead, including the CIA's Middle East director. 120 were injured in attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad/Hizballah claimed responsibility; however, two other groups also claimed responsibility for the blast. Iranian and Syrian intelligence services also implicated in the attack.

1983

Oct. 23, Beirut, Lebanon: Shi'ite suicide bombers exploded truck carrying 12,000 pound bomb near U.S. military barracks at Beirut airport, killing 242 American marines. Minutes later a second 400 pound bomb killed 58 French paratroopers in their barracks in West Beirut. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

1983

November 15, Athens, Greece, a U.S. Navy officer was shot by the 17 November  terrorist group in Athens, Greece, while his car was stopped at a traffic light.

1984

April 12, Torrejon, Spain, eighteen U.S. servicemen were killed, and 83 people were injured in a bomb attack on a restaurant near a U.S. Air Force Base in Torrejon, Spain. Responsibility was claimed by Hizballah.

1985

June 14, Beirut, Lebanon, a Trans-World Airlines flight was hijacked en route to Rome from Athens by two Lebanese Hizballah terrorists and forced to fly to Beirut. The eight crew members and 145 passengers were held for 17 days, during which one American hostage, a U.S. Navy sailor, was murdered. After being flown twice to Algiers, the aircraft was returned to Beirut after Israel released 435 Lebaneseand Palestinian prisoners.

1985

June 23, off coast of Ireland: Air India Boeing 747 exploded over Atlantic en route from Montreal to London as a result of a terrorist-planted bomb. All 329 aboard were killed. Sikh separatist group thought to be responsible. Worst air sabotage disaster prior to Sept. 11 attacks.

1985

October 7, Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking in Italy by 4 Palestinian Liberation Front terrorists including  Abu Abbas, where the PLF leader is wanted for the murder of U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer, a disabled man whose body was pushed overboard with his wheelchair.

1985

November 23, Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, An EgyptAir airplane bound from Athens to Malta and carrying several U.S. citizens was hijacked by the Abu Nidal Group.

1986

March 30, Athens, Greece, a Palestinian splinter group detonated a bomb as TWA Flight 840 approached Athens Airport, killing four U.S. citizens.

1986

April 5, Berlin, West Germany, 2 U.S. soldiers were killed, and 79 American servicemen were injured in a Libyan bomb attack on a nightclub in West Berlin, West Germany.

1986

September, Karachi, Pakistan, Abu Nidal Organization hijacked Pan Am flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan: 17 were killed and over 150 wounded.

1987

April 24, Athens, Greece, sixteen U.S. servicemen riding in a Greek Air Force bus near Athens were injured in an apparent bombing attack, carried out by the revolutionary organization known as 17 November.

1987

December 26, Barcelona, Spain, Catalan separatists bombed a Barcelona bar frequented by U.S. servicemen, resulting in the death of one U.S. citizen.

1988

April 14, Naples USO Attack. The Organization of Jihad Brigades exploded a car bomb outside a USO Club in Naples, Italy, killing one U.S. sailor.

1988

Dec. 21, Lockerbie, Scotland: N.Y.-bound Pan-Am Boeing 747 exploded in flight from a terrorist bomb and crashed into Scottish village, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on the ground. Passengers included 35 Syracuse University students and many U.S. military personnel. Two Libyan intelligence officers were tried under Scottish law in The Hague; only one, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, was found guilty, in Jan. 2001.

1990

January 15, U.S. Embassy Bombed in Peru. The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement bombed the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru.

1992

December 29, Aden, Yemen hotel bombed targeting US soldiers headed for Somalia.

An explosion at the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden killed an Austrian national and seriously injured his wife. About 100 US soldiers, part of Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, had been staying in Aden since mid-December.

1993

Feb. 26, New York City: bomb exploded in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing six and injuring at least 1,040 others. In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and nine others were convicted of conspiracy charges, and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, believed to have been the mastermind, was convicted of the bombing. Al-Qaeda involvement is suspected.

1993

April, Langley, Virginia, Pakistani national Mir Aimal Kasi fired on a row of cars entering the CIA during mornign rush hour killing Frank Darling and Lensing Bennett and injuring 3 others. Kansi fled to Pakistan where he was captured in the Dera Ghazi Khan region on June 15, 1997. Later that year he was convicted and was subsequently executed November 14, 2002.

1993

April 14,: Kuwait , The Iraqi intelligence service attempted to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait. In retaliation, the U.S. launched a cruise missile attack 2 months later on the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

1993

April 15,: Kuwait authorities arrested seventeen persons as they attempted to infiltrate Kuwait from Iraq. An additional person was arrested later, and a large car bomb and weapons were recovered. The group stands charged with being part of an Iraqi government plot to assassinate former President Bush while he was visiting Kuwait.

1995

April 19, Oklahoma City: car bomb exploded outside Alfred P. Murrah federal office building, collapsing wall and floors. 168 persons were killed, including 19 children and one person who died in rescue effort, plus 200 injured. Over 220 buildings sustained damage. Right-wing extremists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols later convicted in the anti-government plot to avenge the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Tex., exactly two years earlier.

1995

November 13,  Rihadh, Saudi Arabia. The Islamic Movement of Change planted a bomb in a Riyadh military compound that killed one U.S. citizen, several foreign national employees of the U.S. Government, and more than 40 others. A car bomb explosion in the parking lot of the Office of the Program Manager/Saudi Arabian National Guard (OPM/SANG) in Riyadh, killed seven persons and wounded 42 others. The deceased include four US federal civilian employees, one US military person, and two Indian Government employees. The blast severely damaged the three-story building, which houses a US military advisory group, and several neighboring office buildings. Three groups, including the Islamic Movement for Change, claimed responsibility for the attack.

After the 1995 bombing in Saudi Arabia, which killed five U.S. military personnel; Clinton promised that those responsible would be hunted down and punished. We’re still waiting!    ?????????????????????????

1996

June 25, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring 515 others. Thirteen Saudis and a Lebanese, all alleged members of Islamic militant group Hezbollah, were indicted on charges relating to the attack in June 2001.

1996

July 17, TWA flight 800 (Boeing 747-100) crashed off Long Island on in what appeared to the general public to be an act of terrorism.

1997

February 23, New York City. A Palestinian gunman 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."

1998

Aug. 7, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near two U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500. Four men, two of whom had received training at al-Qaeda camps inside Afghanistan , were convicted of the killings in May 2001 and later sentenced to life in prison. A federal grand jury had indicted 22 men in connection with the attacks, including Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who remained at large.

1998

Sept. 2, Swissair Flight 111 crashes off the coast of Nova Scotia while en route from New York to Geneva. All 229 people aboard the MD-11 are killed.

1999

Oct. 31, EgyptAir Flight 990 on a flight from New York to Cairo, plummets into the ocean 60 miles south of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket. All 217 people on board the Boeing 767 are killed. The jet was deliberately crashed by the Islamic co-pilot.

2000

Jan. 31,  An Alaska Airlines Flight 261, (an MD-80) passenger jet crashed into the Pacific Ocean Monday, some 40 miles northwest of Los Angeles International Airport. At least 88 people, including five crew, were aboard and are feared dead.

2000

Oct. 12, Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole was heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it. Seventeen sailors were killed in what was apparently a deliberate terrorist attack. Prime suspect thought to be Osama bin Laden, or members of his al-Qaeda terrorist network.

2001

Sept. 11, New York City, Arlington, Va., and Shanksville, Pa.: hijackers crashed two commercial jets into twin towers of World Trade Center; two more hijacked jets were crashed into the Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania. Total dead and missing numbered 3,044, including the 19 hijackers. Islamic al-Qaeda terrorist group blamed.

2001

Nov. 12, American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in Queens, NY.

2002

Jul. 4, El Al Shooting in L.A.  In September, federal investigators determined that the shooting at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport on July 4, 2002, was a terrorist act carried out by a lone gunman bent on becoming a martyr. Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, a 41-year-old Egyptian national, opened fire at the airport, killing two Israelis and wounding four others before being shot dead by a security guard for the Israeli airline.

 

Also note: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/pubs/fs/5902.htm

 

Other Air Crashes

Feb. 16, 1998: A China Airlines Airbus A-300-600R crashes while approaching the airport in Taipei, Taiwan, in fog and light rain. All 196 people on board are killed as well as six people on the ground.

Feb. 2, 1998: Cebu Pacific Air Flight 387, a DC-9 jet, slams into a mountain as it prepares to land at the Cagayan de Oro airport in the southern Philippines. All 104 people aboard are killed.

Aug. 6, 1997: Korean Air jetliner crashes in Guam, killing the 228 aboard the Boeing 747.

Dec. 11, 1998: A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes during a landing attempt at Surat Thani airport, 330 miles south of Bangkok, Thailand. Of those on board, 101 people are killed and 45 survive

Feb. 24, 1999: A China Southwest Airlines passenger plane crashes in a field 250 miles south of Shanghai in China’s coastal Zhejiang province. All 61 people aboard the Russian-built TU-154 are killed

Jan. 30, 2000: Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after take off from Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The Airbus 310 carried 10 crew members and 169 passengers. At least 10 people survive the disaster.