Terrorist Attacks
Attacks which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack), and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants.
Limitations:
a. occurring outside war situations
b. made indiscriminately on civilians. attacks on specific persons are dealt with under "assassinations"
c. In "Contemporary times" (20th century and later)
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Ancient Kingdom of Saba | In July 2007 a suicide bomber killed 7 Spanish tourists at Marib temple itself. | |
| Ancient Thebes | Queen Hatshepsut's tomb - November 1997. 62 people died, mostly tourists. | |
| Anuradhapura | Maha Bodhi Shrine on May 14,1985: LTTE gunmen shoot dead 146 Sinhalese civilians and injure 85 others as they were praying at Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, a sacred Buddhist shrine in Anuradhapura. (wiki) | |
| Borobudur | Wiki: "On 21 January 1985, nine stupas were badly damaged by nine bombs." | |
| Bwindi Impenetrable National Park | Rwandan rebels slaughtered eight foreign tourists after they were abducted from Bwindi NP (March 1999) | |
| Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus | November 2008: 58 dead and 104 injured at the railway station after an attack by 2 gunmen | |
| Florence | Via dei Georgofili bombing in the very early morning on 27 May 1993 outside the Uffizi | |
| Grand Place, Brussels | The 1979 Brussels bombing was an attack carried out by volunteers belonging to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) against a British Army band on the Grand Place, on 28 August 1979. The bombing injured seven bandsmen and eleven civilians, and caused extensive damage. | |
| Grand-Bassam | March 13, 2016: 18 deaths after terrorists attacked a beach resort in Grand-Bassam | |
| Hebron/Al-Khalil Old Town | The Cave of the Patriarchs massacre was a shooting massacre carried out by American-Israeli Baruch Goldstein. Goldstein was a member of the far-right Israeli Kach movement. On 25 February 1994, during the overlapping religious holidays of both Jewish Purim and Muslim Ramadan, Goldstein opened fire on a large number of Palestinian Muslims who had gathered to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs compound in Hebron. The attack left 29 people dead, several as young as twelve, and 125 wounded. Goldstein was overpowered, disarmed and then beaten to death by survivors. | |
| Historic Cairo | "On Thursday, 7 April 2005, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device on Sharia al-Moski in Islamic Cairo, near the al-Hussein Mosque and Khan el-Khalili, a major souq popular with tourists and Egyptians alike. Three foreign tourists (two French and one American) were killed, and 11 Egyptians and seven other overseas visitors were injured." Followed by further (lesser) attacks. | |
| Istanbul | On 12 January 2016 a suicide attack in Istanbul's historic Sultanahmet Square district killed 11 people, all foreigners. | |
| Kandy | Temple of Sacred Tooth, Jan 1998 by bomb and fire | |
| Kasbah of Algiers | An islamic terrorist bomb attack was perpetrated on the Place des Martyrs in Algiers on June 1, 1997. The final toll was 7 dead and 54 wounded. | |
| Lyon | On 5 August 1980, two Armenian gunmen stormed the Turkish Consulate General in Lyon. When the doorman did not understand the gunmen's broken French, the gunmen killed him. The Armenian gunmen stormed the tourism waiting lounge, opening fire and killing one and wounding eleven French visitors. The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) claimed responsibility for the attack | |
| Mahabodhi Temple Complex | On 7 July 2013 a series of ten bombs exploded in and around the Mahabodhi Temple complex. Five people, including two Buddhist monks, were injured by the blasts. The temple itself and the Bodhi Tree were undamaged. However, the Archaeological Survey of India confirmed damage to new structures in the temple complex. The Islamic terrorist group Indian Mujahideen was held responsible for the bombings. | |
| Medina of Marrakesh | Djemaa el-Fna square, April 28 2011. Suicide bombing, 16 dead. | |
| Naples | The 1988 Naples bombing was a terrorist attack against a United Service Organizations (USO) military recreational club in downtown Naples on 14 April 1988. A powerful car bomb exploded in front of the club in Calata San Marco which caused the deaths of five people, including an American, and injuries to 15 others. The attack was perpetrated by a Japanese Red Army (JRA) member and came on the second anniversary of the 1986 United States bombing of Libya. | |
| Nice | On the evening of 14 July 2016, a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, resulting in the deaths of 86 people and the injury of 458 others. (wiki) | |
| Old City of Jerusalem | Several incidents | |
| Paris, Banks of the Seine | Attentat du RER B à Saint-Michel. 8 fatalities. | |
| Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro | Atocha Station, 2004 Madrid train bombings: (train number 21431) – Three bombs exploded at the station, 193 dead across the 10 bombs that exploded on that railway line that day | |
| Red Fort | By militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba on December 22 2000 (2 dead) | |
| Riga | Two explosives placed at the downtown Riga shopping center Centrs detonated on 17 August 2000. The two blasts occurred in the lobby of the supermarket ten minutes apart. One person died of their injuries and 35 were wounded in the attack. | |
| Rome | The Great Synagogue of Rome attack took place on 9 October 1982. It which was carried out by armed Palestinian terrorists at the entrance to the Great Synagogue, situated in the historic district of Rome. A 2-year-old toddler was killed in the attack, while 37 civilians were injured. | |
| Shibam | On 15 March 2009 a blast took place when a series of tourists were posing for photographs on a hill overlooking Shibam. Four Korean tourists alongside their local Yemeni guide were killed, while three more tourists were injured | |
| Strasbourg | 11 December 2018 | |
| Sukur | December 2014 by Boko Haram: "They killed men, kidnapped women and children, burnt houses and stole all the goods and livestock they could carry." | |
| Tower of London | In 1974, there was a bomb explosion in the mortar room in the White Tower leaving one person dead and 41 injured. No one claimed responsibility for the blast, but the police investigated the possibility that the Irish Republican Army was behind it. | |
| Versailles | The Palace of Versailles bombing took place around 2:30 am on Monday 26 June 1978 when terrorists belonging to the Breton Liberation Front (FLB) detonated a powerful bomb at the historic palace in Versailles, near Paris, France. The explosion occurred on the ground floor of the left wing of the palace and caused damage within an 80 meter radius. Many statues and priceless paintings were damaged, including an entire gallery and several pieces of Napoleonic art, and a wide hole was opened in the ceiling. One night guard was wounded. | |
| Vienna | On December 21, 1975, six militants attacked the semi-annual meeting of OPEC leaders in Vienna, Austria. The attackers took more than 60 hostages after killing an Austrian policeman, an Iraqi OPEC security officer, and a Libyan economist. Several other individuals were wounded. The self-named "Arm of the Arab Revolution" group was led by Carlos the Jackal. The siege resulted in complex diplomatic negotiations. It ended two days later, after flights to Algiers and Tripoli, with all the hostages and terrorists walking away from the situation. (wiki) - On 29 August 1981, there was a terror attack on a synagogue, the Stadttempel in the central Vienna area of Seitenstettengasse, carried out by two terrorists of the Abu Nidal Organization. The mass shooting and grenade attack killed two people and wounded 18 others attending a Bar mitzvah service. (wiki) | |
| Westminster | On 22 March 2017 a terrorist attack in London began on Westminster Bridge, and continued into Parliament Square and the grounds of the Palace of Westminster. 5 people were killed. |
Suggestions?
Do you know of another WHS we could connect to Terrorist Attacks?
A connection should:
- Not be "self evident"
- Link at least 3 different sites
- Not duplicate or merely subdivide the "Category" assignment already identified on this site.
- Add some knowledge or insight (whether significant or trivial!) about WHS for the users of this site
- Be explained, with reference to a source