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Terrorism

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Fighting terrorism[show]

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Thehistory of terrorismis a history of well-known and historically significant individuals, entities, and incidents associated, whether rightly or wrongly, withterrorism. Scholars agree that terrorism is adisputed term, and very few of those labelled terrorists describe themselves as such. It is common for opponents in a violent conflict to describe the other side as terrorists or as practicing terrorism.[1]Depending on how broadly the term is defined, the roots and practice of terrorism can be traced at least to the 1st-century ADSicarii Zealots, though some dispute whether the group, whichassassinatedcollaborators with Roman rule in the province ofJudea, was in fact terrorist. The first use in English of the term 'terrorism' occurred during theFrench Revolution'sReign of Terror, when theJacobins, who ruled the revolutionary state, employed violence, including mass executions by guillotine, to compel obedience to the state and intimidate regime enemies.[2]The association of the term only with state violence and intimidation lasted until the mid-19th century, when it began to be associated with non-governmental groups.Anarchism, often in league with risingnationalismandanti-monarchism, was the most prominent ideology linked with terrorism. Near the end of the 19th century, anarchist groups or individuals committed assassinations of a Russian Tsar and a U.S. President.

The deadliest terrorist strike by time, number of fatalitiesIn the 20th century terrorism continued to be associated with a vast array of anarchist, socialist, fascist and nationalist groups, many of them engaged in 'third world' anti-colonial struggles. Some scholars also labeled as terrorist the systematic internal violence and intimidation practiced by states such as Stalinist Russia andNazi Germany.[3][4]Contents[hide] 1Definition 2Early terrorism 3The Reign of Terror (17931794) 4Emergence of modern terrorism 4.1Ireland 4.2Anarchism and "propaganda of the deed" 4.3The United States 4.4The Ottoman Empire 5Early 20th century 5.1Irish independence 5.2Mandatory Palestine 5.3Resistance during WWII 6Anti-colonial struggles (Cold War) 6.1Middle East 6.2Europe 6.3The Americas 6.4Asia 6.5Africa 7Late 20th century 7.1The Americas 7.2Middle East 7.3Asia 7.4Europe 821st century 8.1Europe 8.2Middle East 8.3Asia 8.4Americas 9Table of non-state groups accused of terrorism 10Notes 11ReferencesDefinition[edit]This article should include a summary of or be summarized in another article.SeeWikipedia:Summary stylefor information on how to incorporate it into this article's main text, or the main text of another article.(February 2014)

It has been suggested that this section bemergedintoDefinition of terrorism. (Discuss)Proposed since November 2014.

See also:Definition of terrorismThough many have been proposed, there is no consensus definition of the term "terrorism."[5][6]This in part derives from the fact that the term is politically and emotionally charged, a word with intrinsically negative connotations that is generally applied to one's enemies and opponents.[7]Listed below are some of the historically important understandings of terror and terrorism, and enacted but non-universal definitions of the term: 1795. "Government intimidation during the Reign of Terror in France." The general sense of "systematic use of terror as a policy" was first recorded in English in 1798.[8] 1916.Gustave LeBon: Terrorization has always been employed by revolutionaries no less than by kings, as a means of impressing their enemies, and as an example to those who were doubtful about submitting to them...."[9] 1937. League of Nations convention language: "All criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public."[10] 1987. A definition proposed byIranat an international Islamic conference on terrorism: Terrorism is an act carried out to achieve an inhuman and corrupt(mufsid)objective, and involving [a] threat to security of any kind, and violation of rights acknowledged by religion and mankind.[11] 1988. A proposed academic consensus definition: "Terrorism is an anxiety-inspiring method of repeated violent action, employed by (semi-) clandestine individual, group or state actors, for idiosyncratic, criminal or political reasons, whereby - in contrast to assassination - the direct targets of violence are not the main targets. The immediate human victims of violence are generally chosen randomly (targets of opportunity) or selectively (representative or symbolic targets) from a target population, and serve as message generators."[12] 1989.United States: premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents.[13] 1992. A definition proposed byAlex P. Schmidto the United Nations Crime Branch: "Act of Terrorism = Peacetime Equivalent of War Crime."[14] 2002.European Union: ". . . given their nature or context, [acts which] may seriously damage a country or an international organisation where committed with the aim of seriously intimidating a population."[15] 2003. India: Referencing Schmid's 1992 proposal, theSupreme Court of Indiadescribed terrorist acts as the "peacetime equivalents of war crimes."[16] 2005.United Nations General Assembly's statement with relation to terrorism: "Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them."[1] 2008. Carsten Bockstette, a German military officer serving at theGeorge C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies, proposed the following definition: political violence in anasymmetrical conflictthat is designed to induce terror and psychic fear (sometimes indiscriminate) through the violentvictimizationand destruction ofnoncombatanttargets(sometimes iconic symbols)."[17] 2014. Contained in aSaudi Arabiaterrorism law taking effect 1 February 2014, the following definition has been criticized byAmnesty InternationalandHuman Rights Watchfor being overly broad: "Any act carried out by an offender in furtherance of an individual or collective project, directly or indirectly, intended to disturb the public order of the state, or to shake the security of society, or the stability of the state, or to expose its national unity to danger, or to suspend the basic law of governance or some of its articles, or to insult the reputation of the state or its position, or to inflict damage upon one of its public utilities or its natural resources, or to attempt to force a governmental authority to carry out or prevent it from carrying out an action, or to threaten to carry out acts that lead to the named purposes or incite [these acts]."[18][19]Early terrorism[edit]

Artistic rendering ofHassan-i Sabbah.Scholars dispute whether the roots of terrorism date back to the 1st century and theSicarii Zealots, to the 11th century and the Al-Hashshashin, to the 19th century and theFenian BrotherhoodandNarodnaya Volya, or to other eras.[20][21]The Sicarii and Hashshashin are described below, while the Fenian Brotherhood and Narodnaya Volya are discussed in the 19th Century sub-section. Other pre-Reign of Terror historical events sometimes associated with terrorism are theGunpowder Plot, an attempt to destroy the EnglishParliamentin 1605,[22]and theBoston Tea Party, an attack on British property by theSons of Libertyin 1773, three years prior to theAmerican Revolution.[dubiousdiscuss][citation needed]There has been recent debate following the release of the filmExodus: Gods and Kingson whether the actions ofMosesdepicted inthe Bibleand the plagues visited on the Egyptian people including the mass murder of children could be considered terrorism.[23][24]During the 1st century CE, theJewish ZealotsinJudaea Provincerebelled, killing prominent collaborators with Roman rule.[20][25][26]In 6 CE, according to contemporary historianJosephus,Judas of Galileeformed a small and more extreme offshoot of the Zealots, theSicarii("dagger men").[27]Their efforts were also directed against Jewish "collaborators," including temple priests, Sadducees, Herodians, and other wealthy elites.[28]According to Josephus, the Sicarii would hide short daggers under their cloaks, mingle with crowds at large festivals, murder their victims, and then disappear into the panicked crowds. Their most successful assassination was of the high priest Jonathan.[27]In the late 11th century, theHashshashin(a.k.a. the Assassins) arose, an offshoot of theIsma'ilisect ofShiaMuslims.[29]Led byHassan-i Sabbahand opposed toFatimidrule, the Hashshashin militia seized Alamut and other fortress strongholds across Persia.[30]Hashshashin forces were too small to challenge enemies militarily, so they assassinated city governors and military commanders in order to create alliances with militarily powerful neighbors. For example, they killed Janah al-Dawla, ruler ofHoms, to pleaseRidwan of Aleppo, and assassinatedMawdud,Seljukemir ofMosul, as a favor to the regent ofDamascus.[31]TheHashshashinalso carried out assassinations as retribution.[32]Under some definitions of terrorism, suchassassinationsdo not qualify as terrorism, since killing a political leader does not intimidate political enemies or inspire revolt.[20][27][33]This organization inspired the popular games franchiseAssassin's Creedand also featured in one episode ofNetflix'sMarco Polo.The Reign of Terror (17931794)[edit]Main article:The Reign of Terror

"Enemies of the people" headed for theguillotineduring theReign of Terror.TheReign of Terror(September 5, 1793 July 28, 1794) or simply The Terror (French: la Terreur) was a period of eleven months during theFrench Revolutionwhen the rulingJacobinsemployed violence, including mass executions byguillotine, in order to intimidate the regime's enemies and compel obedience to the state.[34]The number killed totaled approximately 40,000, and among the guillotined wereLouis XVIandMarie Antoinette.[35]Putting an end to the Terror, on July 28, 1794 its most well known leader,Maximilien Robespierre, was guillotined by other members of France's rulingNational Convention.[36]The Jacobins, most famously Robespierre, sometimes referred to themselves as "terrorists," and the word originated at that time.[2]Some modern scholars, however, do not consider the Reign of Terror a form of terrorism, in part because it was carried out by the French state.[37][38]Emergence of modern terrorism[edit]Terrorism was associated withstate terrorand theReign of Terrorin France until the mid-19th century,[2]when the term also began to be associated with non-governmental groups.[39]Anarchism, often in league with risingnationalism, was the most prominent ideology linked with terrorism.[40]Attacks by various anarchist groups led to the assassination of a RussianTsarand aU.S. President.[41]In the 19th century, powerful, stable, and affordable explosives were developed, global integration reached unprecedented levels and often radical political movements became widely influential.[42][43]The use ofdynamite, in particular, inspired anarchists and was central to their strategic thinking.[44]Ireland[edit]

"The Fenian Guy Fawkes" byJohn Tenniel, published inPunch magazine, on 28 December 1867.One of the earliest groups to utilize modern terrorist techniques was arguably theFenian Brotherhoodand its offshoot theIrish Republican Brotherhood.[45]They were both founded in 1858 as revolutionary and militant nationalist groups, both inIrelandand amongst the emigre community in theUnited States.[46][47]After centuries of continuedBritishrule, and influenced most recently from the devastating effects of the 1840sIrish potato famine, these revolutionary fraternal organisations were founded with the aim of establishing an independent republic in Ireland, and began carrying out frequent acts of violence in metropolitan Britain to achieve their aims through intimidation.[48]In 1867, members of the movement's leadership were arrested and convicted for organizing anarmed uprising. While being transferred toprison, the police van in which they were being transported was intercepted and apolicesergeant was shot in the rescue. A bolder rescue attempt of another Irish radical incarcerated inClerkenwell Prison, was made in the same year: an explosion to demolish the prison wall killed 12 people and caused many injuries. The bombing enraged the British public, causing a panic over the Fenian threat.Although the Irish Republican Brotherhood condemned the Clerkenwell Outrage as a "dreadful and deplorable event", the organisation returned to bombings in Britain in 1881 to 1885, with theFenian dynamite campaign, beginning one of the first modern terror campaigns.[49]Instead of earlier forms of terrorism based on political assassination, this campaign used modern, timed explosives with the express aim of sowing fear in the very heart of metropolitan Britain, in order to achieve political gains[50]- (Prime ministerWilliam Ewart Gladstonewas partly influenced todisestablishtheAnglican Church in Irelandas a gesture by the Clerkenwell bombing). The campaign also took advantage of the greater global integration of the times, and the bombing was largely funded and organised by theFenian Brotherhoodin the United States.The first police unit to combat terrorism was established in 1883 by theMetropolitan Police, initially as a small section of theCriminal Investigation Department. It was known as theSpecial Irish Branch, and was trained in counter terrorism techniques to combat the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The name became Special Branch as the unit's remit steadily widened over the years.[51]Anarchism and "propaganda of the deed"[edit]

Ignacy Hryniewiecki, a terrorist who assassinated TsarAlexander II of Russia.The concept of "propaganda of the deed" (or "propaganda by the deed", from theFrenchpropagande par le fait) advocated physicalviolenceor other provocative public acts against political enemies in order to inspire mass rebellion orrevolution. One of the first individuals associated with this concept, the Italian revolutionaryCarlo Pisacane(18181857), wrote in his "Political Testament" (1857) that "ideas spring from deeds and not the other way around".AnarchistMikhail Bakunin(18141876), in his "Letters to a Frenchman on the Present Crisis" (1870) stated that "we must spread our principles, not with words but with deeds, for this is the most popular, the most potent, and the most irresistible form of propaganda".[52][53]The FrenchanarchistPaul Brousse(18441912) popularized the phrase "propaganda of the deed"; in 1877 he cited as examples the 1871Paris Communeand a workers' demonstration inBerneprovocatively using the socialist red flag.[54]By the 1880s, the slogan had begun to be used[by whom?]to refer to bombings,regicidesandtyrannicides. Reflecting this new understanding of the term, in 1895 Italian anarchistErrico Malatestadescribed "propaganda by the deed" (which he opposed the use of) as violent communal insurrections meant to ignite an imminent revolution.[55]Founded inRussiain 1878,Narodnaya Volya( inRussian;People's Willin English) was a revolutionary anarchist group inspired bySergei Nechayevand by "propaganda by the deed" theorist Pisacane.[20][56]The group developed ideassuch astargeted killingof the "leaders of oppression"that would become the hallmark of subsequent violence by small non-state groups, and they were convinced that the developing technologies of the agesuch as the invention of dynamite, which they were the first anarchist group to make widespread use of[57]enabled them to strike directly and with discrimination.[43]Attempting to spark a popular revolt against Russian Tsardom, the group killed prominent political figures by gun and bomb, and on March 13, 1881, assassinated Russia's TsarAlexander II.[20][56]The assassination, by a bomb that also killed the Tsar's attacker,Ignacy Hryniewiecki, failed to spark the expected revolution, and an ensuing crackdown brought the group to an end.[58]Individual Europeans also engaged in politically motivated violence. For example, in 1893,Auguste Vaillant, a Frenchanarchist, threw a bomb in the FrenchChamber of Deputiesin which one person was injured.[59]In reaction to Vaillant's bombing and other bombings and assassination attempts, theFrenchgovernment restrictedfreedom of the pressby passing a set oflawsthat became pejoratively known as thelois sclrates("villainous laws"). In the years 1894 to 1896 anarchists killed President of FranceMarie Francois Carnot, Prime Minister of SpainAntonio Cnovas del Castillo, and the Empress of Austria-Hungary,Elisabeth of Bavaria.The United States[edit]Prior to theU.S. Civil War,abolitionistJohn Brown(18001859) advocated and practiced armed opposition toslavery, leading several attacks between 1856 and 1859, the most famous in 1859 against thearmoryatHarpers Ferry. Local forces soon recaptured the fort and Brown was tried and executed fortreason.[60]A biographer of Brown has written that Brown's purpose was "to force the nation into a new political pattern by creating terror."[61]In 2009, the 150th anniversary of Brown's death, prominent news publications debated over whether or not Brown should be considered a terrorist.[62][63][64]

A cartoon threatening that the KKK willlynchcarpetbaggers, in theIndependent Monitor,Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 1868.After theCivil War, on December 24, 1865, sixConfederateveterans created theKu Klux Klan(KKK).[65]The KKK used violence, lynching, murder and acts of intimidation such ascross burningto oppress in particularAfrican Americans, and created a sensation with its masked forays' dramatic nature.[66][67]The group's politics are generally perceived aswhite supremacist,anti-Semitic,racist,anti-Catholic, andnativist.[66]A KKK founder boasted that it was a nationwide organization of 550,000 men and that it could muster 40,000 Klansmen within five days' notice, but as a secret or "invisible" group with no membership rosters, it was difficult to judge the Klan's actual size. The KKK has at times been politically powerful, and at various times controlled the governments ofTennessee,Oklahoma, andSouth Carolina, in addition to several legislatures inthe South.[citation needed]The Ottoman Empire[edit]Several nationalist groups used violence against an Ottoman Empire in apparent decline. One was theArmenian Revolutionary Federation(in ArmenianDashnaktsuthium, or "The Federation"), a revolutionary movement founded inTiflis(Russian Transcaucasia) in 1890 byChristapor Mikaelian. Many members had been part ofNarodnaya Volyaor theHunchakian Revolutionary Party.[68]The group published newsletters, smuggled arms, and hijacked buildings as it sought to bring in European intervention that would force the Ottoman Empire to surrender control of its Armenian territories.[69]On August 24, 1896, 17-year-old Babken Suni led twenty-six members incapturing the Imperial Ottoman Bank in Constantinople. The group demanded European intervention to stop theHamidian Massacresand the creation of an Armenian state, but backed down on a threat to blow up the bank. An ensuing security crackdown destroyed the group.[70]Also inspired by Narodnaya Volya, theInternal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization(IMRO) was a revolutionary movement founded in 1893 by Hristo Tatarchev in the Ottoman-controlled Macedonian territories.[71][72][73]Through assassinations and by provoking uprisings, the group sought to coerce the Ottoman government into creating a Macedonian nation.[74]On July 20, 1903, the group incited the Ilinden uprising in the Ottoman villayet of Monastir. The IMRO declared the town's independence and sent demands to theEuropean Powersthat all of Macedonia be freed.[75]The demands were ignored and Turkish troops crushed the 27,000 rebels in the town two months later.[76]Early 20th century[edit]

The assassination of the heir to theAustro-Hungarianthrone,Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, precipitated aglobal war."Revolutionary nationalism continued to motivate political violence in the 20th century, much of it directed against western colonial powers. TheIrish Republican Armycampaigned against the British in the 1910s and inspired theZionistgroupsHagannah,IrgunandLehito fight the British throughout the 1930s in the Palestine mandate.[77][78]Like the IRA and the Zionist groups, theMuslim Brotherhoodused bombings and assassinations to try to free Egypt from British control.[79]The women'ssuffrage movementin the UK also committed terrorist attacks prior to theFirst World War. There were 3 phases ofWSPUmilitancy in 1905, 1908, 1913 this included Civil Disobedience, Destruction of Public Property and Arson/Bombings. Most notablyDavid Lloyd George's house was burned down byWSPU[80](despite his support for women's suffrage).Political assassinations continued into the 20th century, its first victimUmberto I of Italy, killed in July 1900. Political violence became especially widespread inImperial Russia, and several ministers were killed in the opening years of the century. The highest-ranking was prime ministerPyotr Stolypin, killed in 1911 by a leftist radical.On June 28, 1914,Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to theAustro-Hungarianthrone, and his wife,Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot and killed inSarajevo, capital ofBosnia and Herzegovina, byGavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins. The assassinations produced widespread shock across Europe, setting in motion a series of events which led toWorld War I.In the 1930s, theNaziregime inGermanyandStalin's rule inthe Soviet Unionpracticedstate terrorsystematically and on a massive and unprecedented scale.[81]Irish independence[edit]In an action called theEaster RisingorEaster Rebellion, on April 24, 1916, members of theIrish VolunteersandIrish Citizen Armyseized theDublin General Post Officeand several other buildings, proclaiming an independent Irish Republic.[82]The rebellion failed militarily but was a success forphysical force Irish republicanism, leaders of the uprising becoming Irish heroes after their eventual execution by the British government.[83]

Rubble in the streets ofDublinafter the failedEaster Risingin 1916 against British rule.Shortly after the rebellion,Michael Collinsand others founded theIrish Republican Army(IRA), which from 1916 to 1923[citation needed]carried out numerous attacks against symbols of British power. For example, it attacked over 300 police stations simultaneously just before Easter 1920,[84]and, in November 1920, publicly killed a dozen police officers and burned down the Liverpool docks and warehouses, an action that came to be known asBloody Sunday.[85]After years of warfare, London agreed to the 1921 Anglo-Irish treaty creating a free Irish state encompassing 26 of the island's 32 counties.[86]IRA tactics were an inspiration to other groups, including thePalestine Mandate'sZionists,[87]and to British special operations during World War II.[88][89]Mandatory Palestine[edit]See also:Jewish insurgency in Palestine,193639 Arab revolt in PalestineandList of killings and massacres in Mandatory PalestineFollowing the1929 Hebron massacreof 67 Jews in theBritish Mandate of Palestine, theZionistmilitiaHaganahtransformed itself into a paramilitary force. In 1931, however, the more militantIrgunbroke away from Haganah, objecting to Haganah's policy ofrestraint.[90]Founded byAvraham Tehomi,[91][92]Irgun sought to aggressively defend Jews from Arab attacks. Its tactic of attacking Arab communities, including the bombing a crowded Arab market, is considered among the first examples of terrorism directed against civilians.[93]After the British, in theWhite Paper of 1939, placed severe restrictions on Jewish immigration into Palestine and set forth a vision of a single state with an Arab majority,[94]the Irgun began a campaign against British rule by assassinating police, capturing British government buildings and arms, and sabotaging British railways.[95]Irgun's best known attack was the1946 bombing of the King David Hotelin Jerusalem, parts of which housed the headquarters of the British civil and military administrations. Ninety-one people were killed and forty-six injured in what was the most deadly attack during the Mandate era. This attack was sharply condemned by the organized leadership of the Yishuv, and further widened the gulf betweenDavid Ben-Gurion'sHaganaand Begin's Irgun. Following the bombing, Ben-Gurion called Irgun an enemy of the Jewish people.[96][97]After the creation of Israel in 1948, Menachem Begin (Irgun leader from 1943 to 1948) transformed the group into the political partyHerut, which later became part ofLikudin an alliance with the center-rightGahal,Liberal Party,Free Centre,National List, andMovement for Greater Israel.[98][99]

TheKing David Hotel, Mandatory Palestine, after the 1946 bombing.Operating in theBritish Mandate of Palestinein the 1930s,Izz ad-Din al-Qassamorganized and established theBlack Hand, a Palestinian nationalist militia. He recruited and arranged military training for peasants, and by 1935 had enlisted between 200 and 800 men. Al-Qassam obtained afatwafrom Shaykh Badr al-Din al-Taji al-Hasani, theMuftiofDamascus, authorizing armed resistance against the British and Jews of Palestine. Black Hand cells were equipped with bombs and firearms, which they used to kill Jews.[100][101]Although al-Qassam's revolt was unsuccessful in his lifetime, many organizations gained inspiration from his example.[100]He became a popular hero and an inspiration to subsequent Arab militants, who in the193639 Arab revolt, called themselves Qassamiyun, followers of al-Qassam. TheIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing ofHamas, as well as therocketsthey developed, are named after Qassam.Lehi(Lohamei Herut Yisrael, a.k.a. "Freedom Fighters for Israel", a.k.a. Stern Gang) was arevisionist Zionistgroup that splintered off fromIrgunin 1940.[93]Abraham Sternformed Lehi from disaffected Irgun members after Irgun agreed to a truce with Britain in 1940.[95]Lehi assassinated prominent politicians as a strategy. For example, on November 6, 1944,Lord Moyne, theBritishMinister of State for the Middle East, was assassinated.[102]The act was controversial among Zionist militant groups,Hagannahsympathizing with the British and launchinga massive man-huntagainst members of Lehi and Irgun. After Israel's 1948 founding, Lehi was formally dissolved and its members integrated into theIsraeli Defense Forces.[103]Resistance during WWII[edit]Some of the tactics of theguerrilla, partisan, and resistance movementsorganised and supplied by the Allies during World War II, according to historian M. R. D. Foot, can be considered terrorist.[104][105]Colin Gubbins, a key leader within the BritishSpecial Operations Executive(SOE), made sure the organization drew much of its inspiration from the IRA.[88][89]On the eve of D-Day, the SOE organised with the French resistance the complete destruction of the rail[106]and communication infrastructure of western France[107]the largest coordinated attack of its kind in history[108]Allied supreme commanderDwight Eisenhowerlater wrote that "the disruption of enemy rail communications, the harassing of German road moves and the continual and increasing strain placed on German security services throughout occupied Europe by the organised forces of Resistance, played a very considerable part in our complete and final victory".[109]The SOE also conducted operations in Africa, Middle East and Far East.[110]Anti-colonial struggles (Cold War)[edit]After World War II, largely successfulanti-colonialcampaigns were launched against the collapsing European empires, as many World War II resistance groups became militantly anti-colonial.Viet Minh, for example, which had fought against the Japanese, now fought the returningFrenchcolonists. In the Middle East, theMuslim Brotherhoodused bombings and assassinations against British rule in Egypt.[79]Also during the 1950s, theNational Liberation Front(FLN) in French-controlled Algeria and theEOKAin British-controlled Cyprus wagedguerrillaand open war against colonial powers.[111]

Aftermath of the1964 Brinks Hotel bombingin Vietnam.In the 1960s, inspired byMao'sChinese revolution of 1949 andCastro'sCuban revolutionof 1959, national independence movements often fused nationalist andsocialistimpulses. This was the case with Spain'sETA, theFront de libration du Qubec, and thePalestine Liberation Organization[clarification needed].[112]In the late 1960s and 1970s violentleftistgroups were on the rise, sympathizing withThird Worldguerrilla movements and seeking to spark anti-capitalist revolt. Such groups included thePKKin Turkey, Armenia'sASALA,[112]theJapanese Red Army, theGerman Red Army Faction, theItalian Red Brigades, and, in the United States, theWeather Underground.[113]Nationalist groups such as theProvisional IRAand theTamil tigersalso began operations at this time.Throughout theCold War, both the United States and theSoviet Unionmade extensive use of violent nationalist organizations to carry on a war by proxy. For example, Soviet and Chinese military advisers provided training and support to theViet Congduring theVietnam War,.[114]Russia also provided military support thePLOduring theIsraeli-Palestinian Conflict,[115]andFidel Castroduring theCuban Revolution.[116]The United States funded groups such as theContrasinNicaragua.[117]Manyviolent Islamic militantsof the late 20th and early 21st century had been funded in the 1980s by the United States and the UK because they were fighting the USSR inAfghanistan.[118][119]Middle East[edit]Founded in 1928 as a nationalist social-welfare and political movement in British-controlledEgypt, theMuslim Brotherhoodin the late 1940s began to attack British soldiers and police stations.[120]Founded and led byHassan al-Banna, it also assassinated politicians seen as collaborating with British rule,[121]most prominently Egyptian Prime Minister Nuqrashi in 1948.[122]British rule was overthrown in a 1952 military coup, and shortly thereafter the Muslim Brotherhood went underground in the face of a massive crackdown.[123]Though sometimes banned or otherwise oppressed, the group continues to exist in present-day Egypt.TheNational Liberation Front(FLN) was a nationalist group founded in French-controlled Algeria in 1954.[124]The group was a large-scale resistance movement against French rule, with terrorism only part of its operations. The FLN leadership was inspired by theViet Minhrebels who had made French troops withdraw from Vietnam.[125]The FLN was one of the first anti-colonial groups to use large scale compliance violence. The FLN would establish control over a rural village and coerce its peasants to execute any French loyalists among them.[111]On the night of October 31, 1954, in a coordinated wave of seventy bombings and shootings known as theToussaint attacks, the FLN attacked French military installations and the homes of Algerian loyalists.[126]In the following year, the group gained significant support for an uprising against loyalists inPhilippeville. This uprising, and the heavy-handed response by the French, convinced many Algerians to support the FLN and the independence movement.[citation needed]The FLN eventually secured Algerian independence from France in 1962, and transformed itself into Algeria's ruling party.[127]

Plaque commemorating the eleven Israeli athletes killed during the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.Fatahwas organized as a Palestinian nationalist group in 1954, and exists today as a political party inPalestine. In 1967 it joined thePalestine Liberation Organization(PLO), an umbrella organization for secular Palestinian nationalist groups formed in 1964. The PLO began its own armed operations in 1965.[128]The PLO's membership is made up of separate and possibly contending paramilitary and political factions, the largest of which areFatah,Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine(PFLP), andDemocratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine(DFLP).[129][130]Factions of the PLO have advocated or carried out acts of terrorism.[130]Abu Iyadorganized the Fatah splinter groupBlack Septemberin 1970; the group is best known for seizing eleven Israeli athletes as hostages at the September1972 Summer Olympicsin Munich. All the athletes and five Black September operatives died during a gun battle with the West German police, in what was later known as theMunich massacre.[131]The PFLP was founded in 1967 byGeorge Habash,[132][yearmissing]and on September 6, 1970, the grouphijackedthree international passenger planes, landing two of them in Jordan and blowing up the third.[133]Fatah leader and PLO ChairmanYasser Arafatpublicly renounced terrorism in December 1988 on behalf of the PLO, but Israel has stated it has proof that Arafat continued to sponsor terrorism until his death in 2004.[130][134]In the 1974Ma'alot massacre22Israelihigh school students, aged 1416, fromSafedwere killed by three members of theDemocratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.[135]Before reaching the school, the trio shot and killed two Arab women, a Jewish man, his pregnant wife, and their 4 year old son, and wounded several others.[136]ThePeople's Mujahedin of Iran(PMOI) orMujahedin-e Khalq, is a socialist Islamic group that has foughtIran's government since theKhomeini revolution. The group was originally founded to oppose capitalism and what it perceived as western exploitation of Iran under the Shah.[citation needed]The group would go on to play an important role in the Shah's overthrow but was unable to capitalize on this in the following power vacuum. The group is suspected of having a membership of between 10,000 and 30,000. The group renounced violence in 2001 but remains a proscribed terror organization in Iran and the United States. The EU, however, has removed the group from its terror list. The PMOI is accused of supporting other groups such as theJundallah.[citation needed]TheArmenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia(ASALA) was founded in 1975 inBeirutduring theLebanese Civil WarbyHagop TarakchianandHagop Hagopianwith the help of sympathetic Palestinians. At the time,Turkeywas in political turmoil, and Hagopian believed that the time was right to avenge the Armenians who died during theArmenian Genocideand to force the Turkish government to cede the territory ofWilsonian Armeniato establish a nation state also incorporating theArmenian SSR. In itsEsenboga airport attack, on 7 August 1982, two ASALA rebels opened fire on civilians in a waiting room at theEsenboga International AirportinAnkara. Nine people died and 82 were injured. By 1986, the ASALA had virtually ceased all attacks.[137]The "Partiya Karkern Kurdistan" (Kurdistan Workers Partyor PKK) was established in Turkey in 1978 as a Kurdish nationalist party. FounderAbdullah Ocalanwas inspired by theMaoisttheory ofpeople's war, and like Algeria's FLN he advocated the use of compliance terror.[citation needed]The group seeks to create an independent Kurdish state consisting of parts of south-eastern Turkey, north-easternIraq, north-easternSyriaand north-westernIran. In 1984, the PKK transformed itself into a paramilitary organisation and launched conventional attacks as well as bombings against Turkish governmental installations. In 1999, Turkish authorities captured calan. He was tried in Turkey and sentenced to life imprisonment. The PKK has since gone through a series of name changes.[138]Europe[edit]Founded in 1959 and still active, theEuskadi Ta Askatasuna(or ETA (Basquefor "Basque Homeland and Freedom", pronounced[eta])) is an armedBasque nationalistseparatist organization.[139]Formed in response to GeneralFrancisco Franco's suppression of the Basque language and culture, ETA evolved from an advocacy group for traditional Basque culture into an armedMarxistgroup demanding Basque independence.[140]Many ETA victims are government officials, the group's first known victim a police chief killed in 1968. In 1973 ETA operatives killed Franco's apparent successor, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, by planting an underground bomb under his habitual parking spot outside a Madrid church.[141]In 1995, an ETA car bomb nearly killed Jose Maria Aznar, then the leader of the conservative Popular Party, and the same year investigators disrupted a plot to assassinate King Juan Carlos.[142]Efforts by Spanish governments to negotiate with the ETA have failed, and in 2003 the Spanish Supreme Court banned the Batasuna political party, which was determined to be the political arm of ETA.[143]TheProvisional Irish Republican Army(IRA) was an Irish nationalist movement founded in December 1969 when several militants includingSen Mac Stofinbroke off from theOfficial IRAand formed a new organization.[144]Led by Mac Stofin in the early 1970s and by a group aroundGerry Adamssince the late 1970s, the Provisional IRA sought to create an all-island Irish state. Between 1969 and 1997, during a period known asthe Troubles, the group conducted anarmed campaign, including bombings, gun attacks, assassinations and even amortar attack on 10 Downing Street.[145]On July 21, 1972, in an attack later known asBloody Friday, the group set off twenty-two bombs, killing nine and injuring 130. On July 28, 2005, the Provisional IRA Army Council announced an end to its armed campaign.[146][147]The IRA is believed to have been a major exporter of arms to and provided military training to groups such as theFARCin Colombia[148]and the PLO.[149]In the case of the latter there has been a long held solidarity movement, which is evident by the many murals aroundBelfast.[150]

Ulrike MeinhofTheRed Army Faction(RAF) was a New Leftist group founded in 1968 byAndreas BaaderandUlrike MeinhofinWest Germany. Inspired byChe Guevara, Maoist socialism, and theVietcong, the group sought to raise awareness of the Vietnamese and Palestinian independence movements through kidnappings, taking embassies hostage, bank robberies, assassinations, bombings, and attacks on U.S. air bases. The group is best known for 1977's "German Autumn". The buildup leading toGerman Autumnbegan on April 7, when the RAF shot Federal ProsecutorSiegfried Buback. On July 30, it shotJurgen Ponto, then head of the Dresdner Bank, in a failed kidnapping attempt; on September 5, the group kidnappedHanns Martin Schleyer(a former SS officer and an important West German industrialist), executing him on October 19.[151][152]The hijacking of theLufthansajetliner "Landshut" by thePFLP, a Palestinian group, is also considered to be part of German Autumn.[153]TheRed Brigadeswere aNew Leftistgroup founded byRenato CurcioandAlberto Franceschiniin 1970 that sought to create a revolutionary state. The group carried out a series of bombings and kidnappings until Curcio and Franceschini were arrested in the mid-1970s. Their successor as leader,Mario Moretti, led the group toward more militarized and violent actions, including the kidnapping of former Prime MinisterAldo Moroon March 16, 1978. Moro was killed 56 days later. This led to an all-out assault on the group by Italian law enforcement and security forces and condemnation from Italian left-wing radicals and even imprisoned ex-leaders of the Brigades. The group lost most of its social support and public opinion turned strongly against it. In 1984, the group split, the majority faction becoming the Communist Combatant Party (Red Brigades-PCC) and the minority faction reconstituting itself as the Union of Combatant Communists (Red Brigades-UCC). Members of these groups carried out a handful of assassinations before almost all were arrested in 1989.[154]The Americas[edit]TheFront de libration du Qubec(FLQ) was a Marxist nationalist group that sought to create an independent, socialistQuebec.[155]Georges Schoetersfounded the group in 1963 and was inspired byChe Guevaraand Algeria's FLN.[156]The group was accused of bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of politicians, soldiers, and civilians.[157]On October 5, 1970, the FLQ kidnappedJames Richard Cross, the British Trade Commissioner, and on October 10, the Minister of Labor and Vice-Premier of Quebec,Pierre Laporte. Laporte was killed a week later. After these events support for violence in order to attain Quebec independence declined, and support increased for the Parti Qubcois, which took power in Quebec in 1976.[158]In Colombiaseveral paramilitary and guerrilla groupsformed during the 1960s and afterwards. In 1983, PresidentFernando Belande TerryofPerudescribed armed attacks on his nation's anti-narcotics police as "narcoterrorism", i.e., which refers to "violence waged by drug producers to extractpolitical concessionsfrom the government."[159]Pablo Escobar's ruthless violence in his dealings with the Colombian and Peruvian governments has been probably two of the best known and best documented examples of narcoterrorism.[citation needed]Paramilitary groups associated with narcoterrorism include theEjrcito de Liberacin Nacional(ELN), theFuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia(FARC), and theAutodefensas Unidas de Colombia(AUC). While the ELN and FARC were originally leftist revolutionary groups and the AUC was originally a right-wing paramilitary, all have conducted numerous attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and the U.S. and some European governments consider them terrorist organizations.[160][161]TheJewish Defense League(JDL) was founded in 1969 by RabbiMeir Kahanein New York City, with its declared purpose the protection of Jews from harassment andantisemitism.[162]Federal Bureau of Investigationstatistics state that, from 1980 to 1985, 15 attacks the FBI classified as acts of terrorism were attempted in the U.S. by members of the JDL.[163]TheNational Consortium for the Study of Terror and Responses to Terrorismstates that, during the JDL's first two decades of activity, it was an "active terrorist organization.".[162][164]Kahane later founded the far-rightIsraelipolitical partyKach, which was banned from elections in Israel on the ground of racism.[165]The JDL's present-day website condemns all forms of terrorism.[166]TheFuerzas Armadas de Liberacin Nacional(FALN, "Armed Forces of National Liberation") is a nationalist group founded inPuerto Ricoin 1974. Over the decade that followed the group used bombings and targeted killings of civilians and police in pursuit of an independent Puerto Rico. The FALN in 1975 took responsibility for four nearly simultaneous bombings in New York City.[167]The United StatesFederal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) has classified the FALN as a terrorist organization.[168]TheWeather Underground(a.k.a. the Weathermen) began as a militant faction of the leftistStudents for a Democratic Society(SDS) organization, and in 1969 took over the organization. Weathermen leaders, inspired by China'sMaoists, theBlack Panthers, and the1968 student revolts in France, sought to raise awareness of its revolutionary anti-capitalist and anti-Vietnam Warplatform by destroying symbols of government power. From 1969 to 1974 the Weathermen bombed corporate offices, police stations, andWashingtongovernment sites such as thePentagon. After the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, most of the group disbanded.[169]Asia[edit]TheJapanese Red Armywas founded byFusako Shigenobuin Japan in 1971 and attempted to overthrow the Japanese government and start a world revolution. Allied with thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine(PFLP), the group committed assassinations, hijacked a commercial Japanese aircraft, and sabotaged a Shell oil refinery in Singapore. On May 30, 1972,Kz Okamotoand other group members launched a machine gun and grenade attack at Israel's Lod Airport in Tel Aviv, killing 26 people and injuring 80 others. Two of the three attackers then killed themselves with grenades.[170]Founded in 1976, theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, (also called "LTTE" or Tamil Tigers) was a militantTamilnationalist political and paramilitary organization based in northernSri Lanka.[171]From its founding byVelupillai Prabhakaran, it waged asecessionistresistance campaign that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the northern and eastern regions ofSri Lanka.[172]The conflict originated in measures the majoritySinhalesetook that were perceived as attempts to marginalize the Tamil minority.[173]The resistance campaign evolved into theSri Lankan Civil War, one of the longest-running armed conflicts in Asia.[174]The group carried out many bombings, including an April 21, 1987, car bomb attack at aColombobus terminal that killed 110 people.[175]In 2009 the Sri Lankan military launched a major military offensive against the secessionist movement and claimed that it had effectively destroyed the LTTE.Africa[edit]Founded in 1961,Umkhonto we Sizwe(MK) was the military wing of theAfrican National Congress; it waged a guerrilla campaign against the South Africanapartheidregime and was responsible for many bombings.[176]MK launched its firstguerrilla attacksagainst government installations on 16 December 1961. South Africa subsequently banned the group after classifying it as a terrorist organization. MK's first leader wasNelson Mandela, who was tried and imprisoned for the group's acts.[177]With the end of apartheid in South Africa, Umkhonto we Sizwe was incorporated into the South African armed forces.Late 20th century[edit]In the 1980s and 1990s,Islamicmilitancy in pursuit of religious and political goals increased,[citation needed]many militants drawing inspiration fromIran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.[178]In the 1990s, well-known violent acts that targeted civilians were theWorld Trade Center bombingby Islamic terrorists on February 27, 1993, theSarin gas attack on the Tokyo subwaybyAum Shinrikyoon March 20, 1995, and thebombing of Oklahoma City's Murrah Federal BuildingbyTimothy McVeigha month later that same year. This period also saw the rise of what is sometimes categorized asSingle issue terrorism. If terrorism is the extension of domestic politics by other means, just as war is for diplomacy, then this represents the extension ofpressure groupsinto violent action. Notable examples that grow in this period areEco-terrorismandAnti-abortion terrorism.The Americas[edit]The Contraswere a counter-revolutionary militia formed in 1979 to opposeNicaragua'sSandinistagovernment. The Catholic Institute for International Relations asserted the following about contra operating procedures in 1987: "The record of the contras in the field... is one of consistent and bloody abuse of human rights, of murder, torture, mutilation, rape, arson, destruction and kidnapping."[179]Americas Watch- subsequently folded intoHuman Rights Watch- accused the Contras of targeting health care clinics and health care workers for assassination; kidnapping civilians, torturing civilians; executing civilians, including children, who were captured in combat; raping women; indiscriminately attacking civilians and civilian houses; seizing civilian property; and burning civilian houses in captured towns.[180]The contras disbanded after the election ofVioletta Chamorroin 1990.[181]The April 19, 1995,Oklahoma City bombingwas directed at theU.S. government, according to the prosecutor at the murder trial ofTimothy McVeigh, who was convicted of carrying out the crime.[182]The bombing of theAlfred P. Murrah Federal Buildingin downtown Oklahoma City claimed 168 lives and left over 800 injured.[183]McVeigh, who was convicted of first degree murder andexecuted, said his motivation was revenge for U.S. government actions atWacoandRuby Ridge.[184]Middle East[edit]

Explosion at U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, 1983659 people died inLebanonbetween 1982 and 1986 in 36 suicide attacks directed against American, French and Israelis forces, by 41 individuals with predominantly leftist political beliefs and of both the Christian and Muslim religions.[185]The1983 Beirut barracks bombing(by theIslamic Jihad Organization), which killed more than 200 U.S. marines at their barracks in Beirut, was particularly deadly.[186][187][188][189]Hezbollah("Party of God") is anIslamistmovement and political party officially founded inLebanonin 1985, ten years after the outbreak of that country'scivil war. Inspired byAyatollah Ruhollah Khomeiniand theIranian revolution, the group originally sought an Islamic revolution in Lebanon[citation needed]and has long fought for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Led by Sheikh SayyedHassan Nasrallahsince 1992, the group has captured Israeli soldiers and carried out missile attacks and suicide bombings against Israeli military and civilian targets.[190]Egyptian Islamic Jihad(a.k.a.Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiyya) is a militantEgyptianIslamistmovement dedicated to the establishment of anIslamic statein Egypt. The group formed in 1980 as an umbrella organization for militant student groups formed after the leadership of theMuslim Brotherhoodrenounced violence. It is led byOmar Abdel-Rahman, who has been accused of participation in theWorld Trade Center 1993 bombings. In 1981, the group assassinated Egyptian presidentAnwar Sadat. On November 17, 1997, in what became known as theLuxor massacre, it attacked tourists at the Temple ofHatshepsut(Deir el-Bahri); six men dressed as police machine-gunned 58 Japanese and European vacationers and four Egyptians.[191]

Nose section ofPan Am Flight 103On December 21, 1988,Pan Am Flight 103, aPan American World Airwaysflight from London'sHeathrow International AirporttoNew York'sJohn F. Kennedy International Airport, was destroyed mid flight over theScottishtown ofLockerbie. On January 31, 2001, LibyanAbdelbaset al-Megrahiwas convicted by a panel of three Scottish judges of bombing the flight, and was sentenced to 27 years imprisonment. In 2002 Libya offered financial compensation to victims' families in exchange for lifting of UN and U.S. sanctions. In 2007 Megrahi was granted leave to appeal against his conviction, and in August 2009 was released on compassionate grounds by the Scottish executive due to his terminal cancer.[192]The first Palestiniansuicide attacktook place in 1989 when a member of thePalestinian Islamic Jihadignited a bomb onboardTel Aviv bus, killing 16 people.[193]In the early 1990s another group,Hamas, also became well known for suicide bombings. SheikhAhmed Yassin,Abdel Aziz al-RantissiandMohammad Tahaof the Palestinian wing of Egypt'sMuslim Brotherhoodhad created Hamas in 1987, at the beginning of theFirst Intifada, an uprising against Israeli rule in the Palestinian Territories which mostly consisted of civil disobedience but sometimes escalated into violence.[194]Hamas's militia, theIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, began its ownsuicide bombingsagainst Israel in 1993, eventually accounting for about 40% of them.[195]Palestinian militant organizations have been responsible forrocket attackson Israel,IEDattacks, shootings, and stabbings.[196]After winning legislative elections, Hamas since June 2007 has governed the Gaza portion of thePalestinian Territories. Hamas isdesignated as a terrorist organizationby theEuropean Union,[197][198]Canada,[199]Israel,Japan,[200][201][202][203][204]and theUnited States.[205]Australiaand theUnited Kingdomhave designated the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization.[206][207]The organization is banned inJordan.[208]It is not regarded as a terrorist organization byIran,Russia,[209]Norway,[210]Switzerland,[211]Brazil,[212]Turkey,[213]China,[214][215][216][217]andQatar.[218]As well as Hamas, thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,Palestinian Islamic Jihad,Palestine Liberation Front,PFLP-General Command, and theAl-Aqsa Martyrs Brigadewere all listed as terrorist organizations by theUS State Departmentin the 1990s.[219]February 25, 1994,Baruch Goldstein, an American-born Israeli physician, perpetrated theCave of the Patriarchs massacrein the city ofHebron, Goldstein shot and killed between 30 and 54 Muslim worshippers inside theIbrahimi Mosque(within theCave of the Patriarchs), and wounded another 125 to 150.[220]Goldstein, who was lynched and killed in the mosque,[220]was a supporter ofKach, an Israeli political party founded by RabbiMeir Kahanethat advocated the expulsion of Arabs fromIsraeland thePalestinian Territories.[221]In the aftermath of the Goldstein attack and Kach statements praising it, Kach was outlawed in Israel.[221]Today,Kachand a breakaway group,Kahane Chai, are consideredterrorist organisationsbyIsrael,[222]Canada,[223]theEuropean Union,[224]and the United States.[225]Asia[edit]Aum Shinrikyo, now known as Aleph, was a Japanesereligious groupfounded byShoko Asaharain 1984 as a yogic meditation group. Later, in 1990, Asahara and 24 other members campaigned for election to the House of Representatives under the banner of Shinri-t (Supreme Truth Party). None were voted in, and the group began to militarize. Between 1990 and 1995, the group attempted several apparently unsuccessfulviolent attacksusing the methods ofbiological warfare, usingbotulin toxinandanthraxspores.[226]On June 28, 1994, Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin gas from several sites in the Kaichi Heights neighborhood ofMatsumoto, Japan, killing eight and injuring 200 in what became known as theMatsumoto incident.[226]Seven months later, on March 20, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo members released sarin gas in a coordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 commuters and damaging the health of about 5,000 others[227]in what became known as thesubway sarin incident(, chikatetsu sarin jiken). In May 1995, Asahara and other senior leaders were arrested and the group's membership rapidly decreased.In 1985,Air India Flight 182flying from Canada was blown up by a bomb while in Irish airspace, killing 329 people, including 280 Canadian citizens, mostly of Indian birth or descent, and 22 Indians.[228]The incident was the deadliest act of air terrorism before 9/11, and the first bombing of a 747 Jumbo Jet which would set a pattern for future air terrorism plots. The crash occurred within an hour of the fatalNarita Airport Bombingwhich also originated from Canada without the passenger for the bag that exploded on the ground. Evidence from the explosions, witnesses and wiretaps of militants pointed to an attempt to actually blow up two airliners simultaneously by members of theBabbar KhalsaKhalistan movementmilitant group based in Canada to punish India forattacking the Golden Temple.Europe[edit]

Hostage crisis victim photos, on the walls of the former School Number OneChechnyanseparatists, led byShamil Basayev, carried out several attacks on Russian targets between 1994 and 2006.[229]In the June 1995Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis, Basayev-led separatists took over 1,000 civilians hostage in a hospital in the southern Russian city ofBudyonnovsk. When Russian special forces attempted to free the hostages, 105 civilians and 25 Russian troops were killed.[230]21st century[edit]Major events after theSeptember 11 attacksin 2001 include theMoscow Theatre Siege, the2003 Istanbul bombings, theMadrid train bombings, theBeslan school hostage crisis, the2005 London bombings, theOctober 2005 New Delhi bombings, the2008 Mumbai Hotel Siege, and the2011 Norway attacks.Europe[edit]TheMoscow theatre hostage crisiswas the seizure of a crowdedMoscowtheatre on 23 October 2002 by some 40 to 50 armedChechenswho claimed allegiance to theIslamist militant separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal ofRussianforces fromChechnyaand an end to theSecond Chechen War. The siege was officially led byMovsar Barayev. After a two-and-a-half day siege, RussianSpetsnazforces pumped anunknown chemical agent(thought to be fentanyl,3-methylfentanyl), into the building'sventilationsystem and raided it.[231]Officially, 39 of the attackers were killed by Russian forces, along with at least 129 and possibly many more of the hostages (including nine foreigners). All but a few of the hostages who died were killed by the gas pumped into the theatre,[232][232][233]and many condemned the use of the gas as heavy handed.[234]Roughly, 170 people died in all.On September 1, 2004, in what became known as theBeslan school hostage crisis, 32 Chechen separatists took 1,300 children and adults hostage atBeslan's School Number One. When Russian authorities did not comply with the rebel demands that Russian forces withdraw from Chechnya, 20 adult male hostages were shot. After two days of stalled negotiations, Russian special forces stormed the building. In the ensuing melee, over 300 hostages died, along with 19 Russian servicemen and all but perhaps one of the rebels. Basayev is believed to have participated in organizing the attack.[235][clarification needed].In 2013 the British government branded thekilling of a servicemanin aWoolwichstreet, a terrorist attack. One of his attackers made political statements which were later broadcast with blood still on his hands from the attack.[236]The two men responsible for the attack remained on the scene until incapacitated by armed police. They were later tried and found guilty of murder.

TheJe suis Charlie("I am Charlie") slogan became an endorsement of freedom of speech and press.From 7 January to 9 January 2015, a series of fiveterrorist attacksoccurred across the2015 ile-de-France attacksregion, particularly inParis. The attacks killed a total of 17 people, in addition to the three perpetrators of the attack,[237][238]and wounded 22 others, some of whom are in critical condition as of 16 January 2015. A fifth shooting attack did not result in any fatalities. Numerous other smaller incidents of attacks on mosques have been reported, but have not yet been directly linked to the attacks. The group that claims responsibility for the attacks,Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed that the attack had been planned for years ahead.[239]On 7 January 2015, twoIslamistgunmen[240]forced their way into and opened fire in the Paris headquarters ofCharlie Hebdo shooting, killing twelve: staff cartoonistsCharb,Cabu,Honor,TignousandWolinski,[241]economistBernard Maris, editorsElsa Cayatand Mustapha Ourrad, guest Michel Renaud, maintenance worker Frdric Boisseau and police officers Brinsolaro and Merabet, and wounding eleven, four of them seriously.[242][243][244][245][246][247]During the attack, the gunmen shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is great" inArabic) and also "the Prophet is avenged".[240][248]PresidentFranois Hollandedescribed it as a "terrorist attack of the most extreme barbarity".[249]The two gunmen were identified asSad KouachiandChrif Kouachi, French Muslim brothers of Algerian descent.[250][251][252][253][254]On 9 January, police tracked the assailants to an industrial estate inDammartin-en-Gole, where they took a hostage. Another gunman also shot a police officer on 8 January andtook hostagesthe next day, at akoshersupermarket near thePorte de Vincennes.[255]GIGN(aspecial operationsunit of theFrench Armed Forces), combined withRAIDandBRI(special operations units of the French Police), conducted simultaneous raids in Dammartin and at Porte de Vincennes. Three terrorists were killed, along with four hostages who died in the Vincennes supermarket before the intervention; some other hostages were injured.[256][257][258]Middle East[edit]

Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden, closely advised byEgyptian Islamic JihadleaderAyman al-Zawahiri, in 1988 foundedAl-Qaeda(Arabic: , meaning "The Base"), anIslamicjihadistmovement to replace Western-controlled or dominated Muslim countries with Islamic fundamentalist regimes.[259]In pursuit of that goal, bin Laden issued a 1996 manifesto that vowed violent jihad against U.S. military forces based in Saudi Arabia.[260]On August 7, 1998, individuals associated with Al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad carried out simultaneousbombings of two U.S. embassies in Africawhich resulted in 224 deaths.[261]On October 12, 2000, Al-Qaeda carried out theUSS Cole bombing, a suicide bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden. The bombing killed seventeen U.S. sailors.[262]The group's best-known attack, however, took place on September 11, 2001.

September 11, 2001 - The towers of the World Trade Center burn.OnSeptember 11, 2001, nineteen men affiliated with al-Qaeda hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners, crashing two of them into theWorld Trade CenterinNew York Cityand one intothe Pentagon.[263][264]As a result of the attacks, the World Trade Center's twin towers completely collapsed, and 2,977 victims and the 19 hijackers died.[265]The United States responded to the attacks by launching theWar on Terror. Specifically, on October 7, 2001, it invadedAfghanistanto deposethe Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. On October 26, 2001, the U.S. enacted thePatriot Act, anti-terrorism legislation that expanded the powers of U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Many countries followed with similar legislation. Under the Obama administration, the U.S. changed tactics moving away from ground combat with large numbers of troops, to the use of drones and special forces. This campaign eliminated much of Al Quaeda's most senior members, including a strike bySeal Team Sixthat resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011.On Israel's northern border, after its unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May 2000,Hezbollahlaunched numerousKatyusharocket attacks against non-civilian and civilian areas within northern Israel.[266]Within Israel, the 19932008Second Intifadainvolved in part aseries of suicide bombingsagainst civilian and non-civilian targets. 1100 Israelis were killed in the Second Intifada, the majority being civilians.[267][268]A 2007 study of Palestinian suicide bombings from September 2000 through August 2005 found that 40% percent were carried out byHamas'sIzz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and roughly 26% by thePalestinian Islamic Jihad(PIJ) andFatahmilitias.[268][269]Also, between 2001 and January 2009, over 8,600rocket attackswere launched from theGaza Stripwere launched into civilian areas and non-civilian areas inside Israel, causing deaths, injuries, and psychological trauma.[270][271][272]Formed in 2003,Jundallahis a Sunni insurgent group from the Baloch region of Iran and neighboring Pakistan. It has committed numerous attacks within Iran, stating that it is fighting for the rights of the Sunni minority there. In 2005 the group attempted to assassinate Iran's president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[273]The group takes credit for other bombings, including the2007 Zahedan bombings. Iran and other sources accuse the group of being a front for or supported by other nations, in particular the U.S. andPakistan.[274][275]Asia[edit]The2008 Mumbai attackswere more than ten coordinated shooting and bombing attacks acrossMumbai,India's largest city, byLashkar-e-Taiba, a PakistaniIslamic terroristorganization with ties toISI, Pakistan's secret service.[276][277][278]The attacks, which drew widespread condemnation across the world, began on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308.[279][280][281]Americas[edit]2001 also saw the second acknowledged act ofbioterrorismwith the2001 anthrax attacks(the first beingintentional food poisoningconducted inThe Dalles, OregonbyRajneesheefollowers in 1984), when letters carrying anthrax spores were posted to several major American media outlets and twoDemocratic Partypoliticians. This resulted in several of the first fatalities attributed to a bioterror attack.Table of non-state groups accused of terrorism[edit]This sectiondoes notciteanyreferences or sources.Please help improve this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2012)

NAMELOCATIONFOUNDEDCEASED ATTACKSFOUNDERSUBSEQUENT LEADERSTACTICSFAMOUS ATTACKINFLUENCED BYACCUSED OF TERRORISM BY

FeniansIreland1798young Irelanders rebellionGovernment of the United Kingdom

Narodnaya VolyaRussian Empire18781883bombings, assassinationsAssassinatedTsar Alexander II, 1881

Hunchakian Revolutionary PartyOttoman Empire18871896Avetis NazarbekianDestroyed Ottoman coat of arms, 1890Narodnaya Volya

Armenian Revolutionary FederationOttoman Empire18901897Christopher MikaelianHeld hostages at Ottoman Bank, 1896Hunchakian Revolutionary Party

Internal Macedonian Revolutionary OrganizationOttoman Empire18931903Hristo TatarchevLedIlindenPreobrazhenie Uprising, 1903Narodnaya Volya

Irish Republican ArmyIreland19161923Eamon de ValeraMichael CollinsKilmichael Ambush, 1920Irish Republican Brotherhood;Government of the United Kingdom

IrgunBritish Mandate Palestine19311948Avraham TehomiMenachem BeginbombingsKing David Hotel bombing, 1946Irish Republican ArmyBritish Colonial Office

LehiBritish Mandate Palestine19401948Abraham SternYitzhak ShamirassassinationsLord Moyneassassination, 1944Irish Republican ArmyBritish Colonial Office

Muslim BrotherhoodEgypt1928Hassan al-BannaassassinationsAssassinated former PM Mahmud Fahmi al-Nuqrashi, 1948British Colonial Office

Front de Liberation NationalAlgeria19541962Toussaint Rouge attacks, 1954Indochina rebelsFrench Government

EOKACyprus19551959George Grivas

ETASpain1959bombings, assassinationsAssassinated "President" Blanco, 1978Spanish Government

FatahPalestine1959Yasser ArafatMunich Olympics massacre, 1972Algerian rebelsIsraeli Government

PLOPalestine1964Yasser Arafat1978 Coastal Road massacreIsraeli Government

PFLPPalestine1967Black Septemberskyjacking, 1970Che GuevaraIsraeli Government

PFLP-GCPalestine1968Hangglider shooting, 1970Israeli Government

DFLPPalestine1969Avivim school bus massacre, 1970Israeli Government

Front de libration du QubecCanada19631971Georges Schoetersbombings, kidnappings, assassinationsOctober Crisiskidnappings, 1970Che Guevara; theFLNCanadian Government

Provisional IRAIreland19692005Sen Mac Stofinbombings, assassinationsBloody Fridaybombings, 1972Government of the United Kingdom,Government of the Republic of Ireland

Ulster Defence Association (UDA)Ireland1972Johnny Adairassassinations, mass shootingsCastlerock killings, 1993 &Greysteel massacre, 1993Ulster Unionist Party (UUP),Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)Government of the United Kingdom,Government of the Republic of Ireland

Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)Ireland1966Gusty Spenceassassinations, bombingsDublin and Monaghan Bombings, 1974 &Loughinisland massacre, 1994Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)Government of the United Kingdom,Government of the Republic of Ireland

FALNPuerto Rico1974bombingsFour NYC bombs, 1975Government of the United States

ASALATurkey19751986Hagop TarakchianAttack on Ankara airport, 1982Turkish Government

PKKTurkey1978Abdullah OcalanBabalar massacreMao Zedong;FLN[citation needed]Turkish Government

Red Army FactionGermany19681998Andreas BaaderandUlrike MeinhofGerman Autumnkillings, 1977Che Guevara;Mao Zedong;VietcongGerman Government

WeathermenU.S.A.19691977Chicago police statue bombing, 1969Mao Zedong;Black Panthers

Italian Red BrigadeItaly19701989Renato CurcioAssassinated former Prime MinisterAldo Moro, 1978

Japanese Red ArmyJapan19712001Fusako ShigenobuLod AirportMassacre, 1972

Tamil TigersSri Lanka19762009[282]Columbus bus terminal bombing, 1987Government of Sri Lanka

HezbollahLebanon1982Hassan NasrallahApril 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing,1983 Beirut barracks bombingAyatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

Egyptian Islamic JihadEgypt1980Omar Abdel-RahmanLuxor massacre, 1997

HamasGaza1987SheikhAhmed YassinPassover massacre,Sbarro restaurant suicide bombingMuslim Brotherhood

Al-QaedaSaudi Arabia1988Osama bin Laden9/11 attacks, 2001Mujahideen

East Turkestan Liberation OrganizationChina1990

Aum ShinrikyoJapan19901995Shoko AsaharaSarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, 1995

Lashkar-e-TaibaPakistan1991Mumbai train bombings, 2006 and2008 Mumbai attacks.

Chechnyan SeparatistsRussia1994Shamil BasayevBeslan school hostage crisis, 2004

JundallahIran2003Abdolmalek RigiZahedan bombings, 2007Government of Iran