ACTS OF TERRORISM

SICARII ZEALOTS

It seems that terrorism goes back to even 2000 years ago when a

Jewish extremist group tried to expel the Romans and their

sympathizers at the beginning of the 1st century AD with the use

of daggers hidden in their cloaks, hence the name “sicarii,”

which means “dagger.” In a public gathering, the zealots pulled their

daggers to attack not only the Romans and their sympathizers, but all

Jewish collaborators including the Herodians and Sadducees.

THE REIGN OF TERROR

Popularly known as ‘The Terror,’ this was an era of violence that

started on September 5, 1793 and ended only on July 28, 1794 during

the French Revolution. The conflict between the Girondins and the

Jacobins had resulted in mass executions including the death of 16, 594

people under the guillotine. This is also the first time that the word

“terrorist” was used by Edmund Burke in 1795.

FELICE ORSINI

Orsini was an Italian revolutionary leader of the “Carbonari” who

attempted to assassinate the French Emperor Napoleon III on January

14^th, 1858 while he and the Empress Eugénie de Montijo were on their

way to the theatre by throwing three bombs at the royal carriage.

The incident resulted in the death of 8 bystanders while injuring

142 more. He was also a conspirator involved in dethroning the

pope and attempted to assassinate Napoleon III believing that he was

a major impediment to Italian independence. Interestingly enough

his terrorist acts inspired the first Russian terrorist groups.

WALL STREET BOMBING

A terrorist attack that was centred in the Financial District of New York,

this happened on September 16, 1920 and killed 38 people while injuring

400 more resulting in $2 million in damages. The attack involved a

horse-drawn wagon containing 45 kg of dynamite with 230 kg of slugs

detonating and instantly killing the brokers, clerks, messengers and

stenographers working in the area and destroying the interior of the

JP Morgan building. The crime was never solved though it was believed

that the group behind it was the Italian anarchists, Galleanists who were

responsible for a series of bombings that year. It was also tied to labour

struggles, post war social unrest and anti-capitalist aggression.

ST. NEDELYA CHURCH ASSAULT

The assault happened on April 16, 1925 when a group of the Bulgarian

Communist Party (BCP) blew up the dome of the St. Nedelya Church

during the wake of General Konstantin Georgiev, who was

assassinated just two days prior by the same group while heading for

an evening mass at the Sofia church. It killed 150 people, a majority

of them prominent government and military officials, with 500

people wounded. The attack was carried out by the Military Organization

(MO) of the BCP who were tasked to carry out isolated attacks with 25 kg

of explosives mounted in a package above one the columns of the main

dome at the south entrance of the church set to detonate with a

15-m long cable to allow the attackers a chance to escape.

KING DAVID HOTEL BOMBING

On July 22, 1946, the rebellious right-wing Zionist group, Irgun, carried

out an offensive against the British by bombing the British Administrative

Headquarters for Palestine, which was housed at the King David Hotel.

This terrorist campaign concluded with the death of 91 people from

various nationalities and injured 46 others. This is considered the

deadliest terrorist attack to occur during the British Mandate era from

1920 to 1948.

THE CINEMA REX FIRE

The arson, which happened in a cinema in Abadan, Iran on August

19^th 1978 cost the lives of 470 individuals, most of them unidentified

due to the extent of the burns. When an Iranian newspaper reported

that it was started by radical Islamists, it was shut down by the Islamic

government, however, it was later found out that anti-Shah militants

were behind the fire.

THE GRAND MOSQUE SEIZURE

This terrorist act, which occurred from November 20, 1979 to

December 5^th 1979, was a takeover by the Islamists dissidents of

Mecca, the holiest place in Islam. The insurgents’ leader, Mohammed

Abdullah al-Qahtani, declared that he is the “Mahdi” or “redeemer”

of Islam and all the Muslims should obey him. Hundreds of pilgrims

who were present for the annual “hajj” were taken as hostages and

a number of them were killed along with the rebels in the crossfire that

ensued for the control of the site. The siege ended with the death of

255 pilgrims and militants with 500 injured.

BEIRUT BARRACKS BOMBING

One of the major acts of terrorism in the 1980s, the event happened on

October 23^rd 1983 at the height of the Lebanese Civil War, when

two truck bombs exploded near the housing of US and French military

forces. The attack against the multinational forces in Lebanon was

claimed by the organization Islamic Jihad, the nom de guere for

Hezbollah who was receiving help from the Islam Republic of Iran.

The explosives, which were equivalent to 5400 kg of TNT, resulted in the

deadliest single-day death toll for the US Marine Corps with casualties

that included 241 servicemen.