The 50 Worst Terrorist Attacks

by Edward Mickolus

  They wanted to take control of this bus and take the foreign workers directly to northern Mali so they could have hostages, to negotiate with foreign countries. But when they opened fire on the bus, there was a strong response from the gendarmes guarding it.

  The gunmen ran off the security forces, seized Algerians and Westerners, and then sent separate teams to take over the gas production facility, an administration building, and the living quarters. An Algerian and a Briton were killed; two security guards, two base guards, and two Westerners were wounded. Many workers hid under beds and on rooftops; several Filipinos who refused to leave their rooms were beaten. Two Europeans were shot in the back, one while fleeing and one in the cafeteria. Many Algerian hostages were permitted to phone home. Algerian women were immediately released.

  The terrorists, armed with AK-47s, rounded and tied up the Westerners, placing explosive vests on several. The terrorists announced that Muslims would not be harmed, but the Christians would be killed. They held the remaining Algerians in a separate location, refusing to release them in case the Algerian army killed the hostages and blamed the hostage-takers. The United Kingdom sent a rapid deployment team to Algiers to guard its embassy.

  Algerian military forces surrounded the buildings where the hostages were held. Special Forces and the elite Special Intervention Group (GIS) disconnected mobile phone transmitters and scrambled satellite phone connections. Russian-made helicopters ringed the facility.

  The gunmen released the Algerians, then made their demands, including an end to “brutal aggression on our people in Mali” and release from prison of their colleagues. The group told a Mauritanian news service it protested “blatant intervention of the French crusader forces in Mali” and said the world was ignoring the Syrian people, who were “groaning under the pressure of the butcher” President Bashar al-Assad. The group complained that Algeria was allowing the French to use its airspace for operations in Mali. An Algerian spokesman said no response was given because Algeria does not negotiate. Leader Belmokhtar said he would trade the Americans for two Islamist terrorists jailed in the United States—Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and Aafia Siddiqui. The terrorists threatened to blow up the plant in the event of a rescue operation.

  Late on January 16, 2013, the terrorists attempted to break out of the facility by putting explosives on the hostages and loading them into jeeps to go to Mali. Algerian helicopters fired on the jeeps, killing terrorist on-site leader Mohamed-Lamine Bouchneb. The 11 remaining terrorists moved their hostages into the gas-producing plant that they earlier had tried to set alight. According to Prime Minister Sellal, the dying words of the terrorist leader were “the order for all the foreigners to be killed, so there was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head.” Army snipers then fired on the terrorists.

  Belmokhtar released a video on January 17, 2013, saying “We are ready to negotiate with Western countries and the Algerian regime on the condition that they halt aggression and bombing against the Muslim people of Mali . . . and respect their desire to apply sharia on their territory.” They hoped to free 100 prisoners jailed in Algeria 15 years earlier. Algerian television broadcast African terrorist leader Abdel-Rahman al-Nigeri saying:

  You see our demands are so easy, so easy if you want to negotiate with us. We want the prisoners you have, the comrades who were arrested and imprisoned fifteen years ago. We want one hundred of them.

  He took over the operation after the initial leader was killed. He was later recorded saying, “The Americans that are here, we will kill them. We will slaughter them.”

  While the terrorists claimed to come from Mali, Algerian authorities said it was a multinational group that included terrorists from Algeria, Tunisia, Canada, Mali, Egypt, Libya, Niger, the Persian Gulf, and Mauritania. They variously called themselves Al-Mulathameen—variant alMouwakoune Bi-Dima (Those Who Sign with Blood), Battalion of Blood, the Masked Brigade, and the Brigade of the Masked Ones. AQIM also claimed credit.

  The terrorists allowed hostages to talk to France 24 TV, to put more pressure on their government. A British hostage told Al Jazeera that the Algerian Army should withdraw to avoid casualties. “We are receiving care and good treatment from the kidnappers. The (Algerian) army did not withdraw and they are firing at the camp. . . . There are around 150 Algerian hostages. We say to everybody that negotiation is a sign of strength and will spare many loss of life.” An Irish hostage told Al Jazeera that French, American, Japanese, British, Irish, and Norwegian citizens were among the hostages. “The situation is deteriorating. We have contacted the embassies and we call on the Algerian army to withdraw. . . . We are worried because of the continuation of the firing.” Japanese media said five workers from Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation were held.

  French catering contractor Alexandre Berceaux barricaded himself in his room for 40 hours. He was freed by Algerian soldiers who also found British citizens hiding on the roof.

  BP and Sonatrac, the Algerian national oil company, and Norway’s Statoil jointly operate the field. Statoil said 17 of its employees—including 13 Norwegians—were in the area at the time of the attack. Five of them— four Norwegians and a Canadian resident—were safely evacuated to a military camp; two injured individuals received medical treatment.

  Some of the Westerners blended in with the Algerians who escaped. Some of the hostages were blindfolded, gagged, and thrown into five jeeps. When a jeep crashed after taking fire from Algerian troops, Stephen McFaul, 36, an electrical engineer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, ran to freedom with explosives strapped around his neck. (McFaul had earlier hidden in a room with a colleague and phoned home.) It is believed that when later military rescuers targeted the jeeps, the other hostages in the jeeps died.

  It was initially unclear what happened when the Algerians conducted their three rescue operations with ground troops supported by helicopter gunships. Initial reports form news outlets (Algeria’s Ennahar TV, Mauritanian ANI News, Algeria’s APS state media, and Reuters) and tallies by countries with citizens held hostage differed as to how many and who were dead, how many and who were feared dead, how many and who had escaped, and how many and who were alive and held hostage. The Algerians did not inform the Americans, British, or Japanese ahead of time when they raided the facility on January 17, 2013. The remaining 20 terrorists, hemmed in on all sides, demanded safe passage with the rest of their hostages. The rescue operation apparently freed the hostages who had been brought to the dorms, but the rest of the facility was still held by the terrorists, who wanted to drive the hostages to other countries.

  The Algerian government announced on January 19, 2013, that it had conducted a final rescue mission that ended the siege, during which 23 hostages and 32 terrorists had died. The government said at least 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners were freed. During the final assault, 7 hostages and 11 terrorists died. An Algerian security official told local media that the terrorists had turned their guns on the hostages when they failed to destroy the facility, as well as during the final rescue operation. Algerian officials found 21 rifles, six machine guns, two 60-mm mortars, rockets, six 60-mm C5 missiles with launchers, two grenade launchers with eight rockets, Belgian-made antitank mines, and 10 grenades arranged into explosive belts. Operations leader Bouchneb purchased the weapons in Tripoli, Libya.

  Government officials found 25 charred bodies at the facility after the final rescue operation. On January 21, 2013, the Algerian government said 38 hostages from 8 countries had died and another 5 hostages were still missing. At least 29 terrorists were killed, including their leader. An Algerian television station said five terrorists had been captured and three were still unaccounted for.

  Algerian interrogation of the surviving terrorists and interviews with the freed hostages yielded details on the operation. The Algerian government announced that the terrorists organized the plot in Mali, then entered Algeria via their gathering place in Ghat in southern Libya. The terrorists had i
nside information about the facility from short-term contract workers for BP who served as drivers, cooks, and guards, providing information about the entrances and exits, the residence complex, the guard systems, and building details. The attackers knew how to shut off production at the site and knew of ongoing labor strife and plans for a strike by catering workers. They told the Algerian hostages, “We know you’re oppressed; we’ve come here so that you can have your rights.”

  The news media reported that the gas companies had chosen not to deploy armed guards. The workers were no match for the terrorists operating in the dark who brought in mortars, grenade launchers, and 50-caliber machine guns.

  The news media reported that several hostages used cell phones to video the siege. They captured executions of hostages, including one via bodybomb. Another showed a terrorist with a car battery between his thighs, two wires in his hands, and wearing an explosive belt, ready to set it off if a rescue was attempted. One video showed the terrorist leader wearing a green military uniform with an explosives belt and carrying a Kalashnikov.

  A terrorist spokesman announced on a Mauritanian news site that more attacks within Algeria were coming. The British and American governments publicly vowed to track down the perpetrators. As of late 2013, the search continues.

  September 21-24, 2013

  Nairobi, Kenya, Westgate Shopping Mall Attack

  Overview: By summer 2013, the West and African Union thought it had al-Shabaab on the run. African Union troops overran al-Shabaab’s redoubts in Kismaayo and Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. Surviving members faced major schisms. Four senior commanders, including two cofounders, were assassinated in June 2013. Its spiritual guide, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, fled but was captured and imprisoned in Mogadishu. A very public spat with its prominent American spokesman, Omar Hammami, ended with his assassination by loyalists of Muktar Abdirahman Godane on September 12, 2013. Godane’s 2012 swearing of allegiance to al Qaeda’s central leadership put it under great pressure to reestablish its credentials as a leader in the jihadi movement. Al-Shabaab’s claim to jihadi leadership was tenuous despite the occasional attack beyond Somalia’s borders on African Union troop contributors Kenya and Uganda. Bomb-and-run attacks on Kenyan churches and bus stops paled in comparison to a days-long barricade-and-hostage shootout that killed scores of Kenyans and foreigners and hijacked the world’s headlines at the same time the UN General Assembly was hosting its annual General Debate by heads of state.

  Incident: At noon, on September 21, 2013, a multinational team of more than a dozen al-Shabaab terrorists threw grenades and fired at two entrances to the upscale, 80-shop, 6-year-old Westgate Mall in Nairobi’s affluent Westlands district. The terrorist team shot at least one man inside his car and hit two more pedestrians before entering the mall. At least three security officers were hospitalized following the initial attack. The gunmen then seized dozens of hostages, but told Muslims to leave as they were targeting non-Muslims. Some hostages were held for four days until a two-day government rescue operation ended the siege. The terrorists killed at least 62 people and wounded 175 people, including foreigners. Authorities had issued a warning to the expatriate community to avoid the mall after receiving a threat against it. Al-Shabaab said the attack was in revenge for Kenyan participation in the African Union attacks against al-Shabaab in Somalia.

  Following the initial attack, police surrounded the mall and conducted an on-and-off gun battle with the terrorists, who still held dozens of hostages. An Army helicopter and two armed vehicles joined police efforts. At least one terrorist died during the initial confrontation. Another was hospitalized under police custody; he later died.

  Initial reports said some terrorists wore masks or burkas to hide their identities. Twitter postings from al-Shabaab indicated that all of the terrorists were males, although some reports included the presence of a white English-speaking British woman among the attackers. Police believed she was Samantha Lewthwaite (aka Natalie Faye Webb), 29, known as the “white widow” of suicide bomber Germaine Lindsey, who died in the July 7, 2005, attack on London’s transportation system. Kenyan authorities wanted Buckinghamshire-born Lewthwaite for financing al-Shabaab and al Qaeda. Surviving shoppers said she spurred terrorists to more killing, giving orders in English that were translated into Swahili.

  Early in the siege, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta vowed, “We shall hunt down the perpetrators wherever they run to. We shall get them, and we shall punish them for this heinous crime.” He later added, “They shall not get away with their despicable, beastly acts. Like the cowardly perpetrators now cornered in the building, we will punish the masterminds swiftly and indeed very painfully.”

  At least 1,000 people escaped from the mall and were allowed to depart after authorities checked for weapons. Some, including several wounded children, were pulled out on shopping carts. Several shoppers reported the smell of tear gas. Some shoppers heard gunfire inside the mall and ran outside, but heard shots there, too, so they ran back inside. Several hid in restrooms and stairwells. At least one woman climbed through an air vent to safety. Uche Kaigwa-Okoye hid with 20 others for five hours in a women’s restroom before fleeing. Manish Turohit, 18, who hid in a parking garage for two hours, reported that the gunmen were armed with AK-47s and wore vests with hand grenades attached. Kamal Kaur, a journalist for Radio Africa, said a bullet missed her son, bounced off a wall, and killed a nearby child. The terrorists went from store to store asking questions of the shoppers before shooting and throwing grenades. Three area hospitals treated more than 293 people and reported wounded ranging in age from 2 to 78.

  The dead included many Kenyans and at least 18 foreigners. President Kenyatta lost his nephew Mbugua Mwangi and his nephew’s fiancée Rosemary Wahito, who were at the mall shopping for wedding rings. Ruhila Adatia-Sood, 31, journalist and popular Kenya media personality, was killed while hosting a children’s cooking competition at the mall. She was six months pregnant. Others killed included U.K. businessman Louis Bawa’s wife and 8-year-old daughter; Ross Langdon, 33, award-winning London-based Australian architect, and his partner Elif Yavus, 33, malaria specialist who was working for the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation and who was about to give birth in two weeks; Canadian diplomat Annemarie Desloges, 29, liaison officer to Canada’s High Commission to Kenya, her husband Robert Munk was among those injured; and Kofi Awoonor, 78, Ghanaian poet and professor who had served as ambassador to Brazil, Cuba, and the United Nations, his son was among those injured.

  The terrorists said via Twitter posts that they would not negotiate with the government because the group was retaliating “for the lives of innocent Muslims” killed by Kenyan forces leading an African Union offensive against al-Shabaab that began in 2011. At one time or another, the attackers stated:

  “We’ll not negotiate with the Kenyan government as long as its forces are invading our country, so reap the bitter fruits of your harvest.”

  “When justice is denied, it must be enforced. Kenyans were relatively safe in their cities before they invaded us & killed Muslims #Westgate.”

  “The Mujahideen are still strong inside #Westgate Mall and still holding their ground. All praise is due to Allah!”

  “[The operation was] far greater than how the Kenyans perceive it.”

  “There are countless number of dead bodies still scattered inside the mall, and the mujahideen are still holding their ground.”

  “[The hostages are] still alive looking quite disconcerted but, nevertheless, alive.”

  “You [the government] could have avoided all this and lived your lives with relative safety. Remove your forces from our country and peace will come.”

  Twitter closed down five al-Shabaab accounts, but a sixth popped up. Al-Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage later said, “We will make them suffer what we suffer in southern Somalia, we are giving a warning to the Kenyan government and to all those who support it. . . . If not, know that this is just a taste of what we will do .
. . you should expect black days.”

  The government countered that it was in control and simply conducting mopping-up operations against the terrorists.

  The terrorist group posted the names of nine attackers, including three Americans, two Somalis, and one each from Canada, Finland, Kenya, and the United Kingdom. Kenyan authorities said the Americans were of Somali extraction, aged 18 or 19. Al-Shabaab’s media office later told Reuters, “Those who describe the attackers as Americans and British are people who do not know what is going on in Westgate building.” Investigators were looking into possible connections of the terrorists with the Somali refugee community in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi and Somali diaspora in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

  Large explosions rocked the mall the second day of the siege. Some shoppers trapped in the mall managed to leave after the initial mass escape. They included Cecile Ndwiga, who hid under a car in the basement parking garage. U.S. law enforcement, military, and civilian personnel and Israeli Special Forces operatives arrived to assist Kenyan colleagues during the crisis. Four mall restaurants were Israeli owned.

  Kenya launched what it deemed a “major” rescue operation on September 22, 2013, freeing several hostages—many suffering from dehydration—to the sound of loud explosions and gunfire. Kenya’s National Disaster Operation Centre tweeted, “This will end tonight. Our forces will prevail. Kenyans are standing firm against aggression, and we will win.” Nine bodies were recovered. On September 23, 2013, four more explosions were heard at the mall during gun battles in which 3 terrorists were killed and 10 arrested; 11 Kenyan soldiers were wounded. Smoke billowed from the mall’s main department and grocery store, Nakumatt.

  Al-Shabaab spokesman Rage posted an Internet audio file saying that the hostage-takers had been ordered to “take punitive action against the hostages” in the event of a rescue operation. The BBC in Somalia interviewed an Abu Ammar, who claimed credit for organizing the attack.