The 50 Worst Terrorist Attacks

by Edward Mickolus

  Ressam attempted to flee after Customs Inspector Diana M. Dean asked him to step out of his Chrysler 300, the last car off the ferry. Inspector Carmon Clem removed the trunk floor board and discovered suspicious packages. Senior Inspector Mark Johnson patted down Ressam for weapons and felt something in a jacket pocket. Ressam slipped out of his jacket and started running. He was chased down six blocks away from the ferry customs port. He was carrying a false Canadian passport and driver’s license with two different names. Witnesses said they saw a possible accomplice walk off the Coho Ferry as Ressam was being arrested.

  On December 22, 1999, Ressam was charged in a Seattle federal court with knowingly transporting explosives across the Canadian border, having false identification papers, and making false statement to U.S. Customs Service officials.

  A spokesman for the Montreal police said that Ressam lived for a time with Karim Said Atmani, who was extradited by Canada to France on charges that he participated in the 1995 Paris subway bombing that killed 4 and injured 86. Montreal police announced that they had arrested 11 men, mostly Algerians, during the past four months for thefts during the previous two years of 5,000 items, such as computers, cell phones, passports, and credit cards. Some were believed to be aiding Islamic radicals.

  French officials said Ressam was linked to Fateh Kamel, an Algerian veteran of the Afghan war, who was tied to the 1996 bombers in Paris who left one bystander and several Islamic radicals dead.

  Canadian Mounties raided Ressam’s apartment house in Montreal’s East End, where they found a .357 Magnum pistol and instructions for making bombs.

  On December 28, 1999, Seattle mayor Paul Schell announced the cancellation of Seattle’s millennium party at the Space Needle because of fears of a terrorist attack. Authorities believed Ressam had planned to bomb the facility.

  Ressam was convicted on April 7, 2001, in the New Year’s Day 2000 bomb plot and sentenced in June 2001 to 130 years in prison. The jury found him guilty on nine criminal counts, including terrorism and assorted charges involving transporting explosives, smuggling, and using false passports. The same day, he was convicted in absentia by a Paris court for belonging to a terrorist group of Islamic militants; he was sentenced to five years. On July 3, 2001, he told a federal jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that his group planned to set off a huge bomb at the Los Angeles International Airport.

  December 22, 2001

  The Shoe Bomber

  Richard Colvin Reid, 28, a drifter who boarded American Airlines flight 63 in Paris on December 22, 2001, attempted to set off explosives hidden in his shoes with a match. He boarded without any luggage or additional ID, traveled alone, and had a one-way ticket—all tip-offs that should trigger suspicions. He lit a match and when confronted by a flight attendant, put it in his mouth. After she alerted the pilot by intercom and returned, he tried to set alight the inner tongue of his sneaker, which had been drilled out and had protruding wires. She tried to stop him, but Reid threw her against the bulkhead. He bit a second flight attendant on the thumb. The crew and several passengers overpowered him; several passengers suffered minor injuries. Two French doctors on board used the plane’s medical kit to sedate him three times; other passengers tied him to his window seat in row 29. The pilot diverted the flight to Boston’s Logan International Airport, escorted by two U.S. Air Force F15 fighter jets. The crew questioned Reid, who claimed his father is Jamaican and his mother British and that he was traveling to the Caribbean to visit family members. Some media outlets reported that he was a Muslim convert. The FBI took the man into custody for “interference with a flight crew,” a felony. On December 24, 2001, he was formally charged in court in Boston with interference with flight crews by assault or intimidation.

  Tests on the shoes indicated a substance consistent with C-4. The ignition devices were later “disrupted” and the shoes were detonated in an open field. The FBI said there were two “functional improvised explosive devices” inside the sneakers.

  French police said that the suspect was born in Sri Lanka and named Tariq Raja (alias Abdel Rahim). Other reports said he may have had dual citizenship. French media reported that he had tried to board the same flight on December 21, 2001, but was stopped by police unsure of his passport.

  Following the incident, some airports began random inspections of passenger footwear. It soon became a standard requirement that passengers remove their shoes when going through a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspection in the United States.

  Reid and al Qaeda suspect Zacarias Moussaoui attended the primarily black Brixton Mosque in London, although worshipers could not establish that the two attended together. Some al Qaeda detainees in Afghanistan said they recognized Reid from photos that appeared in the media.

  At an initial hearing on December 28, 2001, FBI witness Margaret Cronin said that the bomb could have blown a hole in the plane’s fuselage, leading to explosive decompression of the cabin. Because Reid was in a window seat, the blast could also have ignited the fuel tanks.

  On October 4, 2002, after initially asking that references to al Qaeda training be dropped in the indictment in return for a guilty plea, he pleaded guilty to all eight charges, including attempting to blow up the airliner. On January 30, 2003, he was sentenced to life in prison. He was placed in a special isolation unit of the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

  2003

  Mubtakkar Chemical Weapons Attack on NYC Subway

  U.S. journalists have reported that al Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2003 called off a planned chemical weapons attack via mubtakker against the New York City subway system, saying that the group had something even more impressive planned. The mubtakker is a very simple binary chemical device that generates lethal hydrogen cyanide gas.

  August 10, 2006

  Planned Liquid Bombings of U.K.-to-U.S. Planes

  British authorities broke up an apparent al Qaeda plot to use liquid explosives and common electronic devices as detonators to destroy at least 10 planes flying from the United Kingdom to the United States. Among the affected airlines were American, United, Continental, and British Airways. British police detained 41 people in the investigation. One worked at Heathrow Airport. Seven other people, including two Britons, were held in Pakistan as “facilitators” of the plot after their arrest in Lahore and Karachi. Two Britons had been arrested in Pakistan a week earlier. Pakistan claimed that the conspiracy was centered in Afghanistan.

  Logistical and financial support came from Karachi and Lahore. At least 17 of the suspects in U.K. custody had family ties to Pakistan, where several had traveled in recent months.

  British and U.S. authorities quickly tightened airport security measures, banning a host of common items from carry-on baggage, including all liquids, toothpaste, contact lens solutions, and suntan lotion. Authorities feared that some of the plotters remained at large and could still detonate such explosives.

  On August 11, 2006, U.K. authorities identified 19 suspects. Pakistan said there were “indications of Afghanistan-based al Qaeda connection” and that it had detained a “key person,” British national Rashid Rauf, on August 9, 2006. The Bank of England froze the accounts of the 19 men aged 17–35. They had Muslim names, many of them common to Pakistan, although Pakistani officials said they were U.K.-born. At least 14 were from London.

  Reports differed as to how the bombs would be constructed. Some said that they would be assembled on the planes, with a peroxide-based solution and simple carry-on items such as a disposable flash camera or a music player. Others said that the explosive was a red gel that would be hidden in bottles of red Gatorade. If the would-be terrorist was asked to drink the Gatorade, he could do so while still hiding the gel.

  British authorities found a martyrdom tape made by one of the detainees.

  Pakistani intelligence said that a local charity had diverted money from earthquake relief operations to the planned attacks. Some $10 million had been raised, but less than half was used
for earthquake relief. Other sources said that the investigation centered around Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a Pakistani charity front for Lashkar-e-Taiba.

  On October 24, 2006, Mark Mershon, head of the FBI’s New York field office, said investigators believed that the terrorists planned to blow up the nonstop flights over U.S. cities, not the Atlantic, to maximize casualties and economic impact. One of the plotters also planned to attack nuclear power plants, gas pipelines, oil refineries, tunnels, electric grids, Internet service providers, London’s financial district, and Heathrow Airport’s control tower.

  On September 8, 2008, the jury of the Woolwich Crown Court convicted Abdullah Ahmed Ali, Assad Sarwar, and Tanvir Hussein of “conspiracy to murder persons unknown.” On September 14, 2009, Justice Richard Henriques sentenced Ali, Sarwar, and Hussein to life in prison with a possibility of parole, and Umar Islam to 22 years.

  December 25, 2009

  The Underwear Bomber

  Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, tried to light pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN), a powdery plastic explosive, taped to his legs and hidden in his underwear to take down Northwest Airlines flight 253, an Airbus 330 that originated in Amsterdam that was about to land in Detroit. A faulty detonator stymied the explosion and he sustained second and third degree burns on his thighs. He claimed that an al Qaeda bomb maker in Yemen had trained him and provided the device. He said he was inspired by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula operational chief Anwar al-Aulaqi, an American who was killed in an airstrike. On February 16, 2012, the U.S. District Court in Detroit sentenced Abdulmutallab to life in prison without possibility of parole.

  May 1, 2010

  Would-Be Bombing of Times Square

  Two street vendors noticed smoke pouring out of a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder SUV parked on 45th Street and Broadway near 7th Avenue in Times Square in New York City. A small explosion went off. Police found the SUV contained three propane tanks, two filled 5-gallon gas containers, two alarm clocks with batteries, 152 consumer-grade M-88 fireworks containing black powder, and 100 pounds of fertilizer in plastic bags. Police also found keys to the apartment and getaway car of Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pabbi, Pakistan, who was living in Connecticut.

  The Pakistani Taliban released a video to claim credit for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for the deaths of two al Qaeda in Iraq leaders and of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, the 2007 Pakistani Army storming of the Red Mosque in Islamabad, drone strikes, and treatment of a female detainee.

  On May 3, 2010, police arrested Shahzad, who had just taken his seat on Emirates Airlines flight 202 from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Dubai.

  Shahzad told authorities that he was trained in bomb making in Waziristan, Pakistan, by the Pakistani Taliban. He said he had considered attacking Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Center, the World Financial Center, and Sikorsky, Inc. He said he would have set off a second bomb two weeks after the Times Square bomb, and would have continued a campaign of attacks until he was killed or captured.

  On September 8, 2010, Pakistan charged Shahid Hussain, Shoaib Mughal, and Humbal Akhtar—close friends of Shahzad—with criminal conspiracy to commit terrorism by setting up meetings with Pakistani Taliban leaders, facilitating his training, and sending him $13,000.

  Shahzad enthusiastically pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. On October 5, 2010, he was sentenced to life in prison.

  October 29, 2010

  Printer Toner Cartridge Bombs on Planes

  Authorities found two Yemen-origin pentaerythritol trinitrate (PETN) package bombs addressed to Chicago synagogues on cargo planes in Dubai and the United Kingdom. The UPS and FedEx parcels were addressed to Diego Deza, who was a Grand Inquisitor during the Spanish Inquisition, and Reynald Krak, who was a French Knight of the Second Crusade who killed Muslim pilgrims. Kurdish warrior Saladin beheaded him at the Battle of Hattin in 1187.

  Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri was believed to be behind the operation. He was believed to have built the underwear bomber’s outfit and to have hidden a PETNbased bomb in the body cavity of his brother, Abdullah, who became a suicide bomber who wounded Saudi prince Mohammed bin Nayef in August 2009.

  The November 20, 2010, edition of Inspire, AQAP’s online magazine, explained how it had conducted the Operation Hemorrhage attacks, which cost only $4,200. The group argued for small-scale attacks, rather than the 9/11 spectaculars of al Qaeda Central, observing “This supposedly ‘foiled plot’ will without a doubt cost America and other Western countries billions of dollars in new security measures.”

  February 17, 2012

  Would-Be Suicide Bomber at U.S. Capitol

  Amine el-Khalifi, a Moroccan illegally in the United States, was arrested a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, wearing what an undercover agent had told him was a suicide vest. He was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against federal property. He faced life in prison. On June 22, 2012, he pleaded guilty in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. property. On September 14, 2012, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison as part of the plea agreement.

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  Bibliography

  Incident Descriptions

  Incident descriptions and biographies of perpetrators and their support apparatus are drawn from more detailed treatments found in the following books and articles. Readers looking for listings of the dead and wounded or court details are directed to these volumes (listed chronologically). In turn, each volume lists sources used for the entries in those books. Of particular use were accounts by the Associated Press, United Press International, Reuter, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, ABC FM Radio News, NPR, ABC, NBC, CBS Evening News, Al Jazeera, the Detroit Free Press, New Haven Register, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Star, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, the Economist, and US News and World Report, along with the annual terrorism chronologies put out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Department of State, and National Counter Terrorism Center and chronologies made available by the RAND Corporation, Oklahoma City’s Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, and the University of Maryland’s START program. The original sources for the books are on deposit with the U.S. Department of Justice. The Further Reading section offers books and articles that provide additional details on these events.

  Mickolus, Edward F. Annotated Bibliography on International and Transnational Terrorism. Available in Legal and Other Aspects of Terrorism Course Handbook Series, No. 310. New York: Practicing Law Institute, 1979.

  Mickolus, Edward F. The Literature of Terrorism: A Selectively Annotated Bibliography . Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1980.

  Mickolus, Edward F. International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events, 1968–1977, ITERATE 2 Data Codebook. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, 1982.

  Mickolus, Edward F. ITERATE: International Terrorism: Attributes of Terrorist Events, Data Codebook. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, 1976.

  Mickolus, Edward F. Terrorism, 1988–1991: A Chronology of Events and a Selectively Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1993.

  Mickolus, Edward F. Terrorism, 2005–2007: A Chronology. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2008.

  Mickolus, Edward F. Terrorism, 2008–2012: A Worldwide Chronology. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2014.

  Mickolus, Edward F. The Terrorist List: The Middle East. 2 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2009.

  Mickolus, Edward F. Transnational Terrorism: A Chronology of Events, 1968–1979. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1980.

  Mickolus, Edward F., with Peter Flemming. Terrorism, 1980–1987: A Selectively Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1988.

  Mickolus, Edward F., with Susan L. Simmons. Terrorism, 1992–1995: A Chronology of Events and a Selectiv
ely Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1997.

  Mickolus, Edward F., with Susan L. Simmons. Terrorism, 1996–2001: A Chronology. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002.

  Mickolus, Edward F., and Susan L. Simmons. Terrorism, 2002–2004: A Chronology. 3 vols. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006.

  Mickolus, Edward F., and Susan L. Simmons. The Terrorist List: Asia, Pacific, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011.

  Mickolus, Edward F., and Susan L. Simmons. The Terrorist List: Eastern Europe. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011.

  Mickolus, Edward F., and Susan L. Simmons. The Terrorist List: North America. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011.

  Mickolus, Edward F., and Susan L. Simmons. The Terrorist List: South America. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011.

  Mickolus, Edward F., and Susan L. Simmons. The Terrorist List: Western Europe. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2011.

  Mickolus, Edward F., Todd Sandler, and Jean Murdock. International Terrorism in the 1980s: A Chronology, Volume 1: 1980 – 1983. Ames, IA: Iowa State UP, 1988.

  Mickolus, Edward F., Todd Sandler, and Jean Murdock. International Terrorism in the 1980s: A Chronology, Volume 2: 1984 – 1987. Ames, IA: Iowa State UP, 1989.

  Further Reading on Events and Terrorists Mentioned in the 50 worst as well as Methodologies for the Study of Terrorism

  Abrahms, Max. “Why Terrorism Does Not Work.” International Security 31, no. 2 (2006): 42–78.