The 50 Worst Terrorist Attacks

by Edward Mickolus

  Killed and injured included citizens from Australia, China, Ghana, Portugal, Poland, and Sierra Leone.

  On July 12, 2005, British police and army units raided six houses around Leeds, arresting a relative of one of the four suspected bombers and conducting a controlled detonation at one of the sites. Police said they found quantities of triacetone triperoxide, a highly volatile substance, at one of the houses.

  On July 15, 2005, Cairo police arrested Magdy Mahmoud Nashar, a biochemist who had studied at North Carolina State University for a semester in 2000. He allegedly helped rent the terrorists’ Leeds town house.

  Authorities were searching for a Pakistani man suspected of helping the terrorists who subsequently left the country on July 6, 2005. They were also searching for Mustafa Setmariam Naser, a Syrian–Spanish dual national who organized terrorist camps in Afghanistan and who was believed to be the mastermind behind the 3/11 Madrid train bombing in 2004. Also wanted was Zeeshan Hyder Siddiqui, 25, a Briton trained in bomb-making in an al Qaeda camp who was arrested in Pakistan in May 2005. He claimed to have lived in west London and studied economics at London University.

  Police were searching for Haroon Rashid Aswat, who was raised in Batley, United Kingdom, and was an aide to Abu Hamza Masri, the radical Muslim preacher in London. Aswat had traveled to the United States and was involved in a plot to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon. He had also been in Pakistan, India, and other countries. His cell phone had received 20 calls from several of the London bombers. He comes from the same general area of West Yorkshire as three of the bombers; Khan lived closest to him. Aswat attended schools in Batley and Dewsbury and went to a technical college in Bradford. Zambian police arrested Aswat on July 20, 2005, as he was crossing into the country from Zimbabwe. He was deported to the United Kingdom on August 7, 2005, and arrested on U.S. warrants that he helped plan the terrorist training camp in Oregon. The United States requested his extradition from the United Kingdom.

  On July 23, 2005, a 17-year-old male was remanded in custody and charged with an arson attack on the home of Germaine Lindsay, one of the bombers.

  On August 24, 2005, Bangkok police arrested Atamnia Yacine, an Algerian, on charges of possessing 180 fake French and Spanish passports and overstaying his visa. Thai police believe he supplied the fake IDs used in the 7/7 attacks.

  On September 1,2005, Al Jazeera aired footage by Khan, one of the bombers, who complained of “atrocities” against Muslims. “Until you will stop the bombing, gassing, imprisonment and torture of my people, we will not stop this fight. . . . We are at war, and I am a soldier and now you too will taste the reality of this situation.” He expressed admiration of Osama bin Laden. Al Jazeera also ran a tape from Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s deputy, calling the “glorious raid” an attack that “has moved our battle right to the enemy’s doorstep.” He said the bombings were “a slap in the face of the arrogant, crusader British rulers” and “a sip from the glass that the Muslims have been drinking from. . . . We have repeated again and again, and here we are warning one more time: All those who took part in the aggression on Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine, we will respond in kind.” On September 19, 2005, in a video broadcast by Al Jazeera, Zawahiri said, “The blessed London attack was one which al Qaeda was honored to launch against the British Crusader’s arrogance and against the American Crusader aggression on the Islamic nation for one hundred years.” He also questioned the Afghan elections and condemned the United Kingdom’s plan to deport Abu Qatada, an Islamic radical cleric.

  In August 2005, a man captured north of Qaim, in western Iraq near the Syrian border, had a computer thumb drive that contained planning information for the 7/7 bombings. Police said he was connected to al Qaeda.

  On May 11, 2006, two official reports by the Home Office and a parliamentary committee indicated that while two of the suicide bombers probably had contact with al Qaeda operatives during visits to Pakistan, there was no proof that the organization planned or directed the attacks. The reports said they acted on their own, because of “fierce antagonism to perceived injustices by the West against Muslims.” The government also said it had failed to follow up leads on bombers Khan and Tanweer.

  On June 5, 2006, an official inquiry concluded that flawed emergency planning, jammed cell phone networks, and radio failures hampered emergency responders after the attack.

  On July 5, 2006, Peter Clarke, deputy assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard in charge of antiterrorist operations, said that in the previous year, authorities had “disrupted three, and probably four, attack plans in the United Kingdom.”

  On July 6, 2006, Al Jazeera ran a video of Tanweer, who said, “What you have witnessed now is only the beginning of a string of attacks that will continue and become stronger until you pull your forces out of Afghanistan and Iraq and until you stop your financial and military support for America and Israel.” The tape included the presence of Adam Gadahn, a native Californian who works with al Qaeda.

  During the British commemoration of the first anniversary of the bombing, an audiotape by Zawahiri indicated that Tanweer and Khan were trained in al Qaeda camps. “Shehzad’s motivation for going to the bases of Qaeda al-Jihad was the repression which the British are perpetrating in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine.”

  On March 22, 2007, British police arrested three men “on suspicion of the commission, preparation, or instigation of acts of terrorism” in the attack. Mohammed Shakil, a Gee Gee cab driver, told his office that he was quitting his job to take leave for family reasons; he was due to fly to Pakistan from Manchester Airport, where he was arrested, as was his traveling companion, Shipon Ullah. The third man, Sadeer Saleem, was arrested in his Leeds house. On July 5, 2007, British authorities charged the trio with conspiring with the bombers between November 1, 2004, and June 29, 2005, saying they handled reconnaissance and planning. On August 10, 2007, Shakil, Saleem, and Waheed Ali pleaded not guilty of conspiracy to cause explosions “of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury.” On April 28, 2009, a London retrial acquitted Shakil, Saleem, and Ali of aiding the bombers. Ali and Shakil were found guilty of other charges and were sentenced to seven years in prison.

  On May 9, 2007, British police arrested three men and Hasina Patel Khan, widow of one of the bombers, on suspicion of commissioning, preparing, or instigating acts of terrorism by assisting the suicide bombers. Three people were picked up in the West Yorkshire region, specifically Dewsbury and Beeston near Leeds; the other in Birmingham, West Midlands. The other detainees were identified as Khalid Khaliq, who lived on the same street as bomber Tanweer; Arshad Patel, Ms. Patel’s brother; and Imran Motala.

  On January 21, 2009, authorities in Peshawar, Pakistan, arrested Taifi, a Saudi from Taif who was believed involved in the subway bombings.

  The case remains open.

  July 23, 2005

  Sharm el-Sheikh Bombing

  Overview: Although the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel had been honored for several decades, terrorists nonetheless never gave up their quest for an end to the Israeli state and a free Palestine. This struggle included attacks within Israel, as well as on its borders. The most noteworthy attack occurred in the mid-2000s, when 88 people were killed in a resort town popular among foreign tourists.

  Incident: On July 23, 2005, shortly after 1:00 a.m ., two bombs in two small green Isuzu pickups and a third bomb in a suitcase placed in a parking lot exploded in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, on the Red Sea, killing at least 88 people and injuring 119. Early reports suggested that there might have been seven explosions. Most of the dead were Egyptians, but seven foreigners died, including a Czech, an Italian, an American, and two Britons. The American, Kristina Miller, 27, from Las Vegas, was celebrating her birthday on a beach vacation with her boyfriend, Kerry Davies, one of the Britons who died. The wounded included nine Italians, five Saudis, seven Britons, a Russian, a Ukrainian, and an Israeli Arab.

  The first bomb went off at
1:00 A.M. in the resort’s Old Market, bustling with shops and tourist attractions. At least 17 Egyptians were killed.

  The second bomb went off a few minutes afterward at the Ghazala Gardens Hotel, a 176-room resort in Naama Bay. The hotel had been the site of several high-level diplomatic meetings. The driver of the car bomb crashed through a barrier along the hotel’s driveway, hit two cars, and drove into the hotel’s domed entrance near the reception area.

  The third bomb exploded in the Moevenpick Hotel’s parking lot in Naama Bay.

  Observers suggested that the bombings, like with the recent London subway bombings, had the hallmark of al Qaeda and might have been ordered by its leadership.

  The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, also known as al Qaeda in Syria and Egypt, said on a website:

  Your brother succeeded in launching a crushing blow on the Crusaders, Zionists, and the infidel Egyptian regime in Sharm el-Sheikh. We reaffirm that this operation was in response to the crimes committed by the forces of international evil, which are spilling the blood of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya.

  The group had claimed credit for the earlier Taba bombings on October 7, 2004, and an April 2005 bombing in Cairo. The previously unknown Holy Warriors of Egypt (Mujahideen of Egypt) sent a fax to the Associated Press claiming credit and naming five bombers.

  Police were searching for five Pakistanis who were part of a group of nine Pakistanis who arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh from Cairo on July 5, 2005. Police identified them as Mohammed Anwar, 30; Mohammed Aref, 26; Mohammed Akhtar, 30; Musaddeq Hussein, 18; and Rashid Ali, 26. Police ran DNA tests of the remains of an Egyptian and a foreigner suspected of being bombers. They identified the Egyptian as Moussa Badran, a resident of northern Sinai with links to Islamists. By July 26, 2005, authorities had detained 140 people.

  A senior police official said that the terrorists intended to bomb the 292-room Iberotel Grand Sharm but were stopped at a checkpoint and set off their bombs in an arcade of shops. Police apparently had a tip on a planned attack against casinos several days before the hotel bombings. On July 27, 2005, police said they were searching for 15 Islamic militants and believed that the hotel attacks were tied to the resort attack in the fall of 2004.

  On August 1, 2005, police surrounded Mohammed Saleh Flayfil, 30, a Bedouin wanted for this bombing and the 2004 Taba attacks in a quarry in Mount Ataqaa, 17 miles east of the Cairo–Suez highway. In a gun battle with police, Flayfil and his wife were killed and his daughter, 4, was wounded.

  On August 12, 2005, Egyptian security forces separately arrested a man and a woman following a gun battle in which two police officers were wounded during a raid on the suspects’ Sinai hideout, 15 miles east of Ismailia.

  On September 29, 2005, Egyptian police in the Sinai Peninsula shot to death Khaled Musaid and Tulub Murdi Suleiman in a gun battle in the Mount Halal area, near where fellow Sharm el-Sheik bombing suspect Moussa Badran had been shot earlier that day. The duo was suspected of having organized the bombing.

  November 26, 2008

  India Mumbai Attacks

  Overview: On November 26, 2008, 10 gunmen landed in the Mumbai, India, harbor and terrorized the city for almost three days. The terrorists carried photographs prepared by a U.S. citizen who had scouted the sea route from Pakistan to Mumbai and the sites to be attacked. Some of the terrorists had lived in Mumbai a few months earlier, pretending to be students and getting oriented to the sites. Sites where foreigners congregated were particularly targeted. The gunmen used electronic devices to communicate with each other and to monitor media coverage and police plans. They used Global Positioning System equipment, carried CDs with high-resolution satellite images, and switched SIM cards in multiple cell phones. When the smoke cleared, 195 people had been killed.

  Incident: On November 26, 2008, at 9:00 P.M., at least 10 college-aged male terrorists deploying from Karachi, Pakistan, slit the throat of the captain of a fishing trawler named the Kuber and killed the four crew members. Upon arriving off the shore of Mumbai, India, they landed using a speedboat and a rubber dinghy, split up into four teams, and hailed taxis to get to their first targets. They attacked 10 public facilities, setting off explosives and firing automatic weapons. In the attacks and ensuing battles with Indian commandos, at least 195 people were killed and 350 people were wounded. At least 22 foreigners were killed, among them 6 Americans, a Briton, an Australian, a German, an Italian, and a Japanese citizen. Dozens of Indian and Western hostages were rescued.

  At 9:30 P.M., the terrorists struck their first site, the Leopold Café, before moving on to the Taj, a restaurant frequented by tourists. Seven people were killed.

  At 10:00 P.M., two gunmen attacked the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, killing 48 people and wounding many more in a 20-minute attack. Shashank Shinde, 46, was killed when he attempted to tackle the assault rifle-wielding terrorists. The two terrorists then fired at the Times of India and the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai buildings. Next they killed three police officers and wounded a fourth for their police vehicle.

  At 10:30 P.M., the same two gunmen attacked the Metro movie theater, throwing grenades and firing at passengers and pedestrians, killing 10 and injuring 30. Police intercepted them as they sped toward the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, killing one terrorist and arresting Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, 21, a Pakistani.

  Meanwhile, at 10:15 P.M., at least two other gunmen attacked the 36-floor Oberoi Trident Hotel, killing 24 people in the initial assault. Terrorist Shadullah phoned Indian television from room 1856 to say:

  We demand the release of all mujahideen put in jails. Then will we release these people. Otherwise, we will destroy this place. . . . You must have seen what’s happening here. . . . Release them, and we, the Muslims who live in India, should not be harassed. . . . Things like demolition of Babri Masjid and killings should stop.

  At 10:40 A.M., on November 28, 2008, India’s National Security Guard killed two gunmen. By midnight of November 28, 2008, police had found 41 bodies and rescued 98 hostages. Among the dead were members of the Synchronicity Foundation, a Virginia-based meditation group.

  Also at 10:15 P.M., at least three terrorists attacked the landmark Taj Hotel. The terrorists fired on diners at the Sea Lounge restaurant, aiming at tourists. Its 105-year-old Moorish-style rooftop dome was engulfed in flames and smoke. The terrorists knocked on doors of the 565-room hotel, calling for American and British citizens to come out. Some 250 guests, including Americans, Europeans, and South Koreans, were trapped 4 hours on the rooftop where they fled for safety. The commando rescue operation began at 4:30 A.M. A running gun battle ensued as hostages fled down the stairs and through windows. At 2:30 a.m. on November 28, 2008, after a 60-hour siege, Indian Marine commandos gained control. The commandos killed four terrorists. Four hundred hostages were freed. At least 11 commandos died in the gunfire, including Hemant Karkare, chief of Mumbai’s counterterrorism squad. More than 30 hostages were killed, including 10 kitchen staff. One wing of the hotel was gutted.

  Between 10:45 and 11:15 P.M., terrorists attacked the Cama and Albless Hospital, where three hospital workers and two police officers died, and the Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital. Two terrorists were captured after they hijacked a police van to escape from the hospital.

  At midnight, terrorists bombed the Mazgaon Dockyard.

  The next morning on November 27, 2008, at 4:30 A.M., terrorists took hostages at the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish Center in the Nariman House business and residential complex, including eight Israelis and U.S. citizens Rabbi Gavriel N. Holtzberg, 29, and his wife, Rivka, 28. Terrorist Imran Babar phoned an Indian television station during the attack, citing the 2002 riots in Gujarat that killed more than 1,000 people, the 1992 destruction of the centuries-old Babri mosque by Hindu mobs, and India’s control over part of Kashmir.

  Are you aware of how many people have been killed in Kashmir? Are you aware of how your army has killed Muslims? We die every day. It’s better to win o
ne day as a lion than die this way.

  Later that day, commandos surrounded the facility. The terrorists killed five hostages, including the rabbi and his wife. On November 28, 2008, at 11:30 A.M., commandos airlifted to the building’s roof and dropped smoke bombs. By 7:00 P.M., fighting was over. One commando died.

  The northern district’s Ramada Hotel and the Vile Parle were also attacked.

  At least 15 police officers died in the attacks, including Balasaheb Bhosale, a police official who tried to stop a gunman at a rail station. Sandeep Unnikrishnan died defending Indian civilians. Police later seized the explosives-laden Kuber.

  On November 30, 2008, government officials said the official casualty numbers were 174 people dead and 239 wounded. Authorities said a third of the victims were Muslims. Indian Muslim leaders refused to permit the nine dead terrorists to be buried in Muslim cemeteries. Home Minister Shivraj Patil resigned.

  Police said the nine dead gunmen came from central Punjab Province of Pakistan. They identified them as Abu Ismail, Hafiz Arshad, Babr Imran, Javed, Shoab, Nazih, Nasr, Abdul Rahman, and Fahad Ullah, all between 20 and 28 years old.

  Surviving terrorist Kasab admitted membership in Lashkar (renamed Jamaat-ud-Dawa in 2005) and claimed that terrorist group members had trained for a year before the attack at four Lashkar camps near Muzzafrabad, Mansera, Muritke, and Karachi. On February 25, 2009, India charged Kasab with 13 crimes, including murder, “waging war against India,” and entering a train station without a ticket. Two unnamed Pakistani Army officials accused of training the gunmen were also charged. Indian citizens Fahim Ansari and Sabauddin were accused of providing maps for the attacks. The charge sheet ran to 11,280 pages, citing more than 2,000 witnesses and naming 37 others alleged to have planned the attacks.