Patterns Of Global Terrorism: 1991
Chronology of Significant Terrorist Events: 1991
2 January El Salvador
Two U.S. crewmen, Lt. Col. David Pickett and
crew chief PFC Earnest Dawson, were executed
after their helicopter was downed by Farabundo
Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN)
militants in San Miguel department. A third
American, Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Scott,
died of injuries he received when the
helicopter was shot down.
12 January Afghanistan
Hezb-I-Islami (Hekmatyar) kidnapped four Swiss
Red Cross workers outside Qandahar.
18 January Indonesia
A bomb was discovered outside the US
Ambassador's residence in Jakarta. The device
was probably placed by Iraqi agents.
19 January Philippines
A bomb carried by two Iraqi agents detonated
prematurely near the USIS library in Manila.
One was killed; the second was seriously
injured.
31 January Yemen
Gunmen threw dynamite at the residences of the
Turkish and Japanese Ambassadors and attacked
the US Embassy.
Peru
MRTA terrorists fired shots and an antitank
weapon at the US Embassy.
3 February Saudi Arabia
Unknown assailants fired upon a bus
transporting US Air Force personnel, wounding
two US airmen and a Saudi guard.
7 February United Kingdom
Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA)
conducted an improvised mortar attack against
the residence of Prime Minister John Major in
London. Three mortar rounds were fired from a
parked van nearby. There were no deaths or
serious injuries.
Turkey
Dev Sol shot and killed a US civilian
contractor as he was getting into his car to
travel to work at Incirlik Air Base in Adana.
13 February Germany
The Red Army Faction (RAF) claimed
responsibility for firing approximately 250
rounds of small-arms fire at the US Embassy in
Bonn. This was the first RAF attack against a
US target since 1985.
16 February Chile
Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front dissidents
(FPMR/D) claimed responsibility for an antitank
rocket attack on a US Marine security guard van
in Santiago, injuring one marine.
20 February Iran
Concussion grenades were thrown at the British,
Italian, and Turkish Embassies in Tehran. A
claim of responsibility was issued by Islamic
Jihad.
23 February Japan
Chukaku-ha attacked a US Navy housing compound
in Yokohama with projectiles, causing minor
damage.
28 February Turkey
Two Dev Sol gunmen shot and wounded a US Air
Force officer as he entered his residence in
Izmir.
2 March Sri Lanka
State Minister for Defense Wijeratne was killed
in a car bombing in Colombo along with 50 other
victims. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
probably was responsible.
12 March Greece
US Air Force Sergeant Ronald Odell Stewart was
killed by a remote control bomb detonated at the
entrance of his apartment building in Athens. The
Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17
November) claimed the attack was in response to
"the genocide of 13,000 Iraqis."
22 March Turkey
Three members of Dev Sol assassinated John
Gandy, a US civilian contractor, in his
Istanbul office.
26 March Singapore
Four Pakistanis claiming to be members of the
Pakistani People's Party hijacked a Singapore
Airlines flight en route from Kuala Lumpur to
Singapore and demanded the release of several
people reportedly imprisoned in Pakistan.
Singapore counterterrorism units stormed the
plane and killed the hijackers.
28 March Saudi Arabia
Three US Marines were shot at and injured by an
Arab while driving near camp Three, Jubial.
31 March India
A Kashmiri separatist group, the Muslim Janbaz
Force (MJF), kidnapped two Swedish engineers.
They escaped on 5 July.
1 April Germany
RAF killed Detlev Rohwedder, a leading German
businessman, in a sniper attack on his
Duesseldorf home.
19 April Greece
Seven people, including six Greeks, were killed
in Patras when explosives carried by a
Palestinian student detonated prematurely.
France
An Iranian dissident leader was stabbed and
killed in the lobby of his apartment building in
Paris.
17 May Peru
Sendero Luminoso (SL) killed the Canadian
director of the humanitarian organization World
Mission and seriously injured his Colombian
assistant in a Lima suburb.
21 May India
Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was
assassinated by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber
while campaigning in southern India. Seventeen
others also died in the bombing.
22 May Peru
An Australian nun and four Peruvian officials
were executed by SL after a "people's trial" in
a rural village.
29 May Spain
Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) claimed
responsibility for a car bombing that destroyed
a Civil Guard barracks near Barcelona, killing
nine and injuring over 50.
5 June Peru
A Soviet textile technician was ambushed and
killed by four SL members in Lima.
23 June Honduras
The Morazanist Patriotic Front (FPM) launched
an RPG-7 rocket at the UN Observer Group
headquarters in Tegucigalpa, causing some
damage.
26 June India
A Kashmiri separatist group kidnapped one Dutch
and seven Israeli tourists in Srinagar. One
Israeli was killed in an escape attempt.
1 July India
A Soviet engineer was killed trying to escape
after being kidnapped (along with 14 Indians) by
United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) militants
in Assam.
3, 12 July Italy-Japan
The Italian translator of Salman Rushdie's book
The Satanic Verses was stabbed and beaten by a
man believed to be Iranian on 3 July in Milan.
The Japanese translator of the book was stabbed
to death in Tokyo on 12 July.
7 July Afghanistan
Two private agricultural consultants were
kidnapped by Afghan militants in Joghere. One man
was released in mid-October, the other in
December.
11 July France
A founder and former director of Dev Sol was
assassinated in Paris by probable Dev Sol
members.
12 July Peru
Three Japanese agronomists were assassinated by
ten SL members at a Japanese-funded rural
research center.
16 July Greece
A remote control car bomb injured the Turkish
Charge D'Affaires and two other members of the
Turkish Embassy in Athens. 17 November claimed
responsibility for the attack.
2 August Turkey
The Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK) kidnapped ten
German tourists near Lake Van. The tourists
were released on 9 August.
6 August France
Former Iranian Prime Minister Shapur Bakhtiar and
his aide were assassinated in Paris.
8 August Lebanon
British hostage John McCarthy was released from
captivity. A French aid worker was kidnapped in
Beirut by probable Hizballah elements in protest
of the McCarthy release. The Frenchman was freed
by his captors 11 August.
9 August Peru
Two Polish priests were shot and killed by SL
members in a remote rural area; a local mayor
was also murdered, and an Italian nun was held
for several hours.
10 August Philippines
A grenade attack on a cultural show killed two
youth missionaries--a Swede and a New
Zealander. Muslim separatists are suspected in
the attack.
11 August Lebanon
American hostage Edward Tracy was released from
captivity.
19 August Turkey
Dev Sol claimed responsibility for the fatal
shooting of a British businessman in his Istanbul
office.
20 August Romania
The Indian Ambassador to Romania was wounded in
a drive-by assassination attempt in Bucharest.
The Khalistan Liberation Front (KLF), a Sikh
terrorist group, claimed credit.
25 August Peru
An Italian priest was killed in an ambush on
his car by SL members.
30 August Turkey
Suspected PKK terrorists kidnapped three
Americans, a Briton, and an Australian near
Bingol. The hostages were released unharmed on
21 September.
6 September Former USSR
An unsuccessful assassination attempt was made
against the Azerbaijani President. The
opposition Azeri Popular Front (APF) is
suspected.
13 September Lebanon
Palestinian guerrillas seized a group of UN
peacekeeping soldiers in south Lebanon after
the guerrillas failed to reach Israel by sea.
They had apparently intended to carry out a
terrorist attack in Israel. One Swedish officer
was killed and five other officers were wounded
in an ensuing gun battle between the guerrillas
and a force of Israeli troops and Lebanese
militiamen.
24 September Lebanon
British hostage Jack Mann was released from
captivity.
7 October Greece
A Turkish Embassy press attache was shot and
killed near his home in Athens by two 17
November assassins. The group denounced the
Turkish presence in Cyprus.
9 October India
The Khalistan Liberation Front kidnapped the
Romanian Charge D'Affaires in New Delhi in an
unsuccessful effort to force the release of
other terrorists jailed in India. He was
released 26 November.
14 October India
A French engineer was kidnapped by the Muslim
militant group, Al Fatah, in Kashmir. The group
demanded the release of 11 jailed members.
22 October Lebanon
American hostage Jesse Turner was released from
captivity.
28 October Turkey
Two car bombings killed a US Air Force sergeant
and severely wounded an Egyptian diplomat.
Turkish Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
West Bank
Gunmen fired on a bus carrying Israeli settlers,
killing two Israelis and wounding several others.
The PIJ and the PFLP claimed responsibility.
29 October Lebanon
A rocket struck the edge of the US Embassy in
Beirut. There were no casualties.
30 October Pakistan
The Afghan director of the Austrian Relief
Committee was wounded when unidentified gunmen
fired upon his vehicle near Peshawar.
8 November Lebanon
A 100-kg car bomb destroyed the Administration
Building of the American University in Beirut,
killing one person and wounding at least a dozen.
18 November Lebanon
American hostage Thomas Sutherlnd and British
hostage Terry Waite were released from
captivity.
25 November Pakistan
The Afghan director of an English language
program run by the International Rescue
Committee was assassinated by unidentified gunmen
in Peshawar.
2 December Lebanon
American hostage Joseph Cicippio was released
from captivity.
3 December Lebanon
American hostage Alann Steen was released from
captivity.
4 December Lebanon
American hostage Terry Anderson was released
from captivity.
19 December Hungary
ASALA claimed responsibility for a failed attempt
on the life of the Turkish Ambassador in
Budapest.
22 December Lebanon
The remains of American hostage Col. William R.
Higgins were recovered and flown back to the
United States for burial at Quantico National
Cemetery.
27 December Lebanon
The remains of American hostage William Buckley
were recovered and flown back to the United
States for burial at Arlington National
Cemetery.
28 December Hungary
A car bomb exploded near a bus transporting
Soviet Jewish immigrants to Israel, injuring two
policemen who were guarding the bus.
Source: United States Department of State, April 1992.