HORRIFIC ACTS OF TERRORISM
Added on: 30th May 2015
PAN AM FLIGHT 103
Also known as the ‘Lockerbie Bombing,’ this event happened on
December 21, 1988, a Pan Am transatlantic flight from London
Heathrow Airport on its way to JFK International Airport in New York.
The Boeing 747-121, “Clipper Maid of the Seas,” exploded killing
all 243 passengers aboard as well as its 16 crewmembers before
it crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland killing 11 more on the ground.
A three-year joint investigation of the Scottish police and the US FBI
resulted in the arrest of 2 Libyan nationals who were handed over
by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi also paid compensation
to the victims’ families, though maintaining that he did not personally
order the attack which resulted in more conspiracy theories.
BOMBAY BOMBINGS
This tragic terrorist attack involved 13 bomb explosions in Bombay
(now Mumbai), India. The assault on March 12, 1993 resulted in the
death of 270 civilians with 700 more wounded. Organized by
Dawood Ibrahim, the “don” of the crime syndicate D-Company, it was
carried out as an act of vengeance against the widespread Muslim
massacre from December to January and the destruction of the
Babri Masjid.
OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING
The deadliest act of terrorism in the US before the 9-11 attacks,
the bombing that occurred on April 19, 1995 in the Alfred P. Murrah
Federal Building, an office complex in Oklahoma claimed the lives of
168 people, 19 of which were children below 6 years old, and left 800
more wounded. It also caused damaged to 324 buildings within a
16-block radius, burned 86 cars, shattered the windowpanes of 258
nearby buildings, resulting in $652 million worth of damages.
The perpetrator, Timothy McVeigh, was put to death by lethal
injection in 2001.
ATTACK IN BENTALHA, ALGERIA
Also known as the “Bentalha Massacre,” this tragic event happened on
September 22 to 23, 1997 when armed guerrillas stormed the village and
killed 200 to 400 of its inhabitants. It started with an explosion near the
orange groves in the Hai el-Djilali neighbourhood at about 11:30 pm
followed by assailants armed with machine guns, machetes and
hunting rifles going from house to house and slaughtering men, women
and children. This monstrosity was claimed by the Armed Islamic Group, who
was also responsible for other massacres including that of the Hais Rais.
US EMBASSY BOMBINGS
This is a series of terrorist attacks on US Embassies in the East African
cities of Nairobi, and Dar es Slaam on August 7, 1998, which was the
8th anniversary of the arrival of US forces in Saudi Arabia. The truck bomb
explosions were linked to the local terrorist group of al Qaeda, headed by
Osama bin Laden. The trucks, which were laden with 3 to 17 tons of high
explosive materials detonated simultaneously, with over 200 dead and
thousands wounded as a result. Though it was directed at American facilities,
most of the victims were local citizens with only 12 American casualties.
KARACHI BOMBING
The Karachi bombing on October 18, 2007 happened on the day
former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was welcomed home after an
8-year self-imposed exile in Dubai and London. The blasts occurred
during a motorcade on their way from the airport to the tomb of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Three police vans bore the impact of the
explosions killing 20 policemen instantly and resulting in the death of
139 people, most of whom were members of the
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
BALI BOMBING
Considered the deadliest acts of terrorism ever in the history of Indonesia,
this tragic event occurred on October 12, 2002 in the tourist district of
Kuta. It resulted in the deaths of 202 people, including 38 locals.
The attacks on local nightclubs were carried out by some members of
the Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist Islamist group, with the use of two
bombs placed in a backpack carried by suicide bombers and a car bomb
while a third bomb exploded in the US Embassy in Denpasar.
MADRID TRAIN BOMBINGS
Also known as “11-M” this is considered the most tragic terrorist attack
in Europe, occurring on March 11, 2004. The series of synchronized
bombings on the Cercania commuter train in Madrid were believed to be
headed by an al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group. The explosions, which
were just three days short of the general elections in Spain
killed nearly 200 people.
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