The 50 Worst Terrorist Attacks

by Edward Mickolus

  The gunmen, who included at least three non-Peruvians, permitted family members to send in fresh clothing to the hostages via the Red Cross. The guerrillas asked for cellular telephones from a specific company, toothbrushes, toilet paper, sutures, bandages, and an X-ray machine. Captives were permitted to make brief phone calls.

  Michael Minnig, a Swiss Red Cross official, led the negotiations. Four ambassadors were released on December 18, 1996, to serve as “hostages on parole” and were to “act as a link for communications,” according to Canadian ambassador Anthony Vincent, who often shuttled between the residence and the outside world during the negotiations.

  On December 19, 1996, two shots were fired at 4:30 P.M. inside the compound. At 6 P.M., four men—two Japanese businessmen and two Peruvians, one of them a businessman—were freed for medical reasons.

  Apoyo pollster Alfredo Torres, one of 38 hostages released on December 20, 1996, reported that the terrorists “classified” the hostages by their “value,” sending the more valuable 180 upstairs. Torres released the results of a poll of the first floor hostages, indicating that 78 percent thought their treatment was favorable, 83 percent said that the worst thing was uncertainty, and 87 percent said that the attack revealed a serious security lapse.

  Also freed were the ambassadors of Brazil, Egypt, and South Korea, who were chosen by the remaining diplomats to “establish channels of communication.” The rebels also sent out a 12-point communique.

  The press reported that the rebel leader was Nestor Cerpa Cartolini (alias Comrade Evaristo or Commandante Huertas), a Marxist ideologue and the only MRTA leader at large. A former textile union official, he was one of the group’s founders in 1984 and served as its military commander. He demanded to talk to the prisoners and the media, but a speech by President Fujimori seemed to rule out both options.

  On December 22, 1996, in a “Christmas gesture,” the MRTA released 225 hostages, among them all of the Americans; the ambassadors of Panama, Cuba, and Venezuela; along with Elmer Escobar, the representative to Lima of the Washington-based Pan-American Health Organization. Until his release, Escobar had served as the principal coordinator for health care inside the residence. The freed Austrian ambassador reported that each terrorist had 15 kilograms of explosives strapped to his body.

  On December 24, 1996, the rebels freed Uruguayan ambassador Tabare Bocalandro Yapeyu. Uruguay later confirmed that a Uruguayan appeals court had released Sonia Silvia Gora Rivera and Luis Alberto Miguel Samaniego, two MRTA members imprisoned in December while entering the country with false passports, but denied that it had arranged for the ambassador’s release.

  On Christmas Day, the rebels freed a Japanese Embassy first secretary, who was led out in a wheelchair.

  On December 26, 1996, at 1:45 A.M., an explosion was heard inside the residence. Observers suggested that an animal had set off a mine.

  The Peruvian government suspended a March 1993 accord that permitted the Red Cross to visit 4,000 accused or convicted terrorists, including the 404 MRTA prisoners. Police also detained 28 people, including 6 women, on suspicion of being involved in the siege.

  The rebels freed another 20 hostages on December 28, 1996, after having their first direct talks in the residence with Education Minister Palermo. The freed hostages included the ambassadors of Malaysia and the Dominican Republic and a Peruvian businessman. After they were released, Minnig used a bullhorn to read a rebel communique, in which the MRTA criticized the rival Shining Path terrorists. The freed hostages said that the guerrillas had strapped explosives to their bodies and had boobytrapped the entrances.

  Other hostages were sequentially released during the following months. On January 7, 1996, at 4:00 A.M., a rebel fired his gun; no injuries were reported. Negotiations had been suspended for the previous five days.

  Four shots rang out inside the residence on January 10, 1996, at 3:00 A.M.

  Later that day, Fujimori said in an interview that his government had conducted only three direct conversations with the rebels. One country had offered asylum. The government had proposed that an independent commission might find an “exit” for surrendering rebels.

  Three bursts of gunfire were heard from the residence on January 13, 1996, at 11:20 A.M. Police believed they were shooing away helicopters that ventured too close.

  The rebels agreed to a mediation commission on January 15, 1996. Cerpa requested representatives from Guatemala and a European country.

  On January 27, 1996, during a police show of force that included armored vehicles, a volley of shots fired into the air rang out from the compound.

  After the two-hour meeting with Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on February 1, 1996, Fujimori announced that as long as the hostages were unharmed, he would not use force to rescue them and end the incident. Fujimori announced that Cerpa had given up on the demand for prisoner release; Cerpa angrily denied the claim.

  On February 10, 1996, the rebels said they were willing to restart face-toface talks with the government, but would not drop their prisoner release demand. The next day, the government and rebels discussed terms of the talks for four hours.

  Following Fujimori’s visit to Havana, Cuban president Fidel Castro offered asylum to the rebels on March 3, 1996; the rebels rejected asylum in the Dominican Republic the next day. Cerpa said that the rebels wanted to stay in Peru. Talks between the rebels and government resumed on March 3, 1996, but were suspended by the rebels on March 6, 1996, when they claimed that they heard tunneling by security forces. Japanese vice foreign minister Masahiko Komura visited Lima for two days, then met with Fidel Castro in Havana on March 19, 1996, to formalize a request for granting asylum.

  The government conducted a surprise raid at 3:17 P.M. on April 22, 1996, freeing 71 hostages. The 140 rescuers from the army, air force, and navy killed all 14 terrorists after setting off explosives under a rebel soccer game. One hostage, Peruvian Supreme Court justice Carlos Giusti Acuna, died from a heart attack; 25 others, including Japanese ambassador Morihita Aoki, Foreign Minister Francisco Tudela, and Supreme Court Judge Luis Serpa Segura, were slightly injured. Two soldiers died in the gunfire that ended the 126-day standoff. President Fujimori was at the scene to give the orders to attack. The soldiers swarmed through tunnels secretly dug by local miners. Hours after the hostages had been taken, Fujimori had ordered the military to begin training for the rescue operation at a secluded naval base on Fronton Island, off the port of Callao.

  The news media reported that the Peruvians used several methods to gather information about the whereabouts and intentions of the terrorists. A transmitter was smuggled in for the use of the hostages to keep in touch with the government. The Associated Press said that microphones were hidden in a chess piece, crutches used by terrorist Eduardo Cruz, a thermos, a guitar, and a Bible. The rescuers used periscopes to keep tabs on the terrorists. The rescuers tipped off some of the hostages 10 minutes ahead of time that they would swarm in via a network of tunnels.

  On May 17, 2002, a forensic report on the 126-day hostage siege indicated that at least eight terrorists were incapacitated and then shot from behind. The government issued arrest warrants for a dozen commandos who participated in the raid, accusing them of executing several MRTA hostage-takers. The military refused to turn over any of them, including Brigadier General Jose Williams, saying they were only doing their duty in protecting Peru. The warrants were revoked following nationwide protests and calls in Congress for a blanket amnesty.

  November 17, 1997

  Luxor Attack

  Overview: Before he joined Osama bin Laden to form and lead al Qaeda, Egyptian physician Ayman al-Zawahiri led al-Gama’at al-Islamiyya, an antiregime Egyptian terrorist group that conducted numerous attacks throughout the country. Its claims to infamy included the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat on October 6, 1981. Its most deadly attack was on foreign tourists at Luxor, Egypt.

  Incident: On November 17, 1997, at 9:30 A.M., six Muslim milit
ants dressed in black sweaters similar to the winter uniforms of the Egyptian police got out of a car and fired on foreign tourists at Luxor, killing 58 foreigners and 4 Egyptians, including 2 policemen. The terrorists were armed with six machine guns, two handguns, and police-issue ammunition. They also had two bags of homemade explosives. Witnesses differed as to whether they arrived by taxi or on foot. Some wore red bandannas with black lettering that said, “We will fight until death.”

  Ahmed Ghassan, 40, a police guard at the ticket booth, told the news media that he stopped the six men and asked for their tickets. The last man pulled out a gun and said, “This is the ticket.” He then shot Ghassan in the elbow and leg. Ghassan said several other guards were also shot and fell on top of him. The terrorists later slit the throats of wounded tourists.

  An early tally of the dead included 14 Japanese, 34 Swiss, 3 Egyptians, 5 Germans, 6 Britons including a child, a Bulgarian, a Colombian, and several French tourists (there was some double counting and confusion about nationalities). Eight of the 24 wounded were in critical condition. A doctor removed a bloody al-Gama’at al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) pamphlet from a wound in the abdomen of a dead Japanese man. A Japanese woman was missing an ear. A European man’s nose had been cut off. Robyn Du Plessis, 22, of Durban, South Africa, said that the tourists hid in the tombs for three hours.

  After an hour-long gun battle in which one terrorist died, the five surviving terrorists hijacked the tour bus of Hagag Nahas, 36, who had dropped off 30 Swiss an hour earlier. The terrorists forced him to drive “to another place so they could shoot more people,” according to press accounts. He drove for an hour before he stopped near the access road to the Valley of the Queens, half a mile away from the temple. A terrorist clubbed Nahas in the chest with the butt of his rifle. Police fired on the gunmen, killing one terrorist. The rest fled into nearby mountains. Police said they had caught up to the bus and killed all five gunmen, who had fired into the crowds along the plaza facing the 3,400-year-old Hatshepsut temple.

  One of the dead terrorists was identified as Midhat Abd-al-Rahman, who had left Egypt in 1993 for Pakistan and Sudan, where he received military training and was involved with Islamic Group leaders.

  In a November 20, 1997, fax to foreign news agencies, the Islamic Group said it would quit its attacks if its leader was released from a U.S. jail, several of its members were released from prison, and the government severed relations with Israel. One leaflet said that the attack was a gesture to Mustafa Hamza, an exiled mastermind of the June 1995 assassination attempt against Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

  The Islamic Group said that it had not intended to kill the victims but had planned to take them hostage to force the United States to release its leader, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, from a New York federal prison. However, witnesses said that there was no evidence that the terrorists attempted to take hostages. Rather, they chased the tourists, made them get down on their knees, and systematically shot them. Rosemarie Dousse, who was wounded in the arm and leg, told Swiss television that a heavy man fell on top of her and a woman behind her also covered her. The terrorists shot those who were still alive in the head. Other Swiss survivors said that the gunmen beat children with guns, raped and mutilated women, and danced for joy as they slaughtered the tourists.

  Egyptian president Mubarak deemed Luxor security “a joke” and fired his interior minister, the Luxor police chief, and several other security officials. On November 22, 1997, new Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Habib Adli told Parliament that the armed forces would join police in protecting tourist sites. Mubarak ruled out a dialogue with the Islamic Group.

  On November 24, 1997, Tala’eh Al-Fath (the Vanguards of Conquest) told USA Today that orders “have already been given for attacks against Americans and Zionists not only in Egypt but elsewhere.” They claimed to be the successors of the Jihad group that assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in 1981. Meanwhile, Sheikh Salah Hashem, 44, of the Islamic Group, said the government should be prepared for more attacks.

  Within a week, tourism in Egypt had halved and had dropped 90 percent in Luxor.

  On June 28, 1998, in the first trial of its kind, a police disciplinary tribunal fired former Luxor police chief Maj. Gen. Medhat Shanawani and his deputy, Maj. Gen. Abul-Atta Youssef Abul-Atta, for ignoring security warnings that the sites in Luxor could be targeted. Their police pensions were also reduced.

  In February 1999, Uruguay arrested Said Hazan Mohammed (variant al-Said Hassan Mokhles), while he was trying to enter the country from Brazil with a fake Malaysian passport. In July 2003, Uruguay extradited him to Egypt, which said that he was an Islamic Group member and possible al Qaeda associate. Egypt agreed that he would not be subjected to the death penalty, permanent imprisonment, or charged for document fraud, for which he already had served four years.

  In April 2002, the Brazilian Federal Police arrested Egyptian Mohammed Ali Aboul-Ezz al-Mahdi Ibrahim Soliman in the tri-border city of Foz do Iguazu. He was arrested on the basis of an Egyptian government extradition request in the Luxor case. The Brazilian Supreme Court released him on September 11, 2002, due to insufficient evidence to extradite him. On September 14, 2002, Brazil arrested another Islamic Group suspect, Hesham al-Tarabili, at Egypt’s request in connection with the case. His judicial status was not reported.

  August 7, 1998

  Tanzania and Kenya U.S. Embassy Bombings

  Overview: The Middle East and Europe had historically been the most likely locations for attacks by jihadi and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Attacks in Africa, by anyone, against foreign nationals were more statistical oddities than considered an ongoing security threat. That perception changed when al Qaeda again showed its penchant for complex, coordinated attacks against multiple targets; this time against U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. In an address to the nation, President Clinton vowed:

  No matter how long it takes, or where it takes us, we will pursue terrorists until the cases are solved and justice is done. The bombs that kill innocent Americans are aimed . . . at the very spirit of our country and the spirit of freedom, for terrorists are the enemies of everything we believe in and fight for: peace and democracy, tolerance and security. As long as we continue to believe in those values and continue to fight for them, their enemies will not prevail. Our responsibility is great, but the opportunities it brings are even greater. Let us never fear to embrace them.

  An initial set of airstrikes was followed by a worldwide manhunt. As of this writing, many of the planners await trial in Guantanamo.

  Incidents: Some 253 people, including 12 Americans, were killed and more than 5,500 wounded, including 80 non-Africans, when a car bomb went off in the Ufundi Cooperative Building in Nairobi, next door to the U.S. Embassy, at 10:35 A.M. Five minutes later, a truck bomb exploded at the U.S. Embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 10 Tanzanians and injuring at least 70 people.

  Several groups claimed responsibility. The previously unknown Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Places demanded the release of detained Islamic militants, that the U.S. military leave Saudi Arabia, and that the United States end support to Israel. It said Osama bin Laden and Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman served as its inspiration. A communique sent to Agence France Press claimed credit for the Dar es Salaam bombing for the Abdallah Azzam Battalion.

  Most observers believed that terrorists from outside the countries were responsible. Many suspected exiled Saudi terrorist financier Osama bin Laden of being behind the attacks. Others suggested Ayman al-Zawahiri, the exiled leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad Organization. The previous week, the group had threatened to attack the United States for the June 28, 1998, capture in Albania and extradition to Egypt of three Islamic militants connected to the ethnic Albanian separatist in Kosovo, Yugoslavia. One of the captured individuals was Ahmed Ibrahim Najjar, who was under sentence of death in Egypt for his role in the attack on Cairo’s Khan el Khalili bazaar. Both suspects were believed to be hiding out
in Afghanistan.

  Kenya. An embassy guard said that someone got out of a truck and threatened him with a grenade. The guard ran away, but the terrorist threw the grenade. There apparently were some shots before the vehicle exploded in a parking lot at one of the city’s busiest intersections. It flattened the Ufundi Cooperative Building and seriously damaged the U.S. Embassy. Numerous cars were destroyed and windows a mile and a half away were broken. Damaged buildings included the Cooperative Bank House, the Extelcoms telecommunications headquarters, the Kenya Railways Headquarters, and the Pioneer House. Passengers in a bus were incinerated where they sat. At least 12 U.S. citizens were killed, along with 14 Kenyans who worked at the U.S. Embassy. Some 153 Kenyans were blinded. The rest of the dead were Kenyans. Among those injured was Kenyan trade minister Joseph Kamotho.

  The bodies of 11 dead Americans were brought home to U.S. soil on August 14, 1998, accompanied by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who had announced a $2 million reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the killers.

  Tanzania. Most of the dead had been working at the guard post at the embassy entrance near where the bomb exploded. All either worked at the embassy or for a security company that guarded the gate. The bomb apparently was attached to an embassy-owned tanker truck delivering water. After it was waved through the security gates, it exploded several feet from the embassy’s southeastern edge, tearing a large crater in Laibon Street. The blast destroyed the guardhouse and killed the driver, Yusuf Shamte Ndange. It was unclear whether the bomb was remotely detonated or had exploded when it was discovered by guards. Nearby cars were badly damaged. The home of the British high commissioner two blocks away had broken windows and damage from debris. A multicar pileup ensued when cars were hit by the debris. The nearby French and German embassies were damaged, but no injuries were reported there. At least 22 cars were destroyed.