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1994-06-20
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<text>
<title>
Global Terrorism: The Year in Review
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Patterns of Global Terrorism: 1991
The Year in Review
</hdr>
<body>
<p> The number of international terrorist incidents rose in 1991
as a result of the Persian Gulf war, when terrorists in many
regions of the world attacked targets belonging to the
international coalition opposed to Saddam Hussein. Most of
these were minor incidents, resulting only in property damage.
War-related attacks brought the total number of international
terrorist incidents in 1991 to 557, up from 456 in 1990. Fully
half of the incidents in 1991 occurred during January and
February, while Operation Desert Storm was under way. After the
war, however, the number of terrorist incidents dropped sharply
and actually fell below 1990 levels.
</p>
<p> Several events in 1991 revealed the threat and extent of
state-sponsored terrorism, particularly as practiced by Iraq,
Libya, and Iran.
</p>
<p> In the months following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Iraq
issued repeated exhortations to terrorists to strike at
coalition targets worldwide. Terrorists of many stripes embraced
Saddam Hussein and publicly vowed to launch attacks in the event
of war. During Operation Desert Storm, we recorded 275
terrorist incidents. Most of these attacks, however, were
sporadic, uncoordinated, and low-level incidents. Only a small
percentage resulted in deaths, significant injuries, or property
damage. The Iraqi government was directly involved in several
incidents, but the threatened massive wave of Middle Eastern
terrorism that Saddam promised did not materialize; the numerous
terrorist groups that had sworn allegiance to Saddam failed to
act.
</p>
<p> After an extensive investigation of worldwide scope, US and
British authorities developed evidence that conclusively linked
Libya to the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. On 14
November 1991 both governments issued indictments for two Libyan
agents, Abdel Basset Ali Al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah,
charged with carrying out the bombing. In addition, French
authorities issued warrants for four LIbyan agents in connection
with the 1989 bombing of UTA Flight 772 that killed 171 people,
including seven Americans.
</p>
<p> Nine long-held Western hostages were freed from captivity in
Lebanon last year, including six Americans, and the remains of
William F. Buckley and Col. William R. Higgins were recovered
and returned to the United States. The hostages, including the
two who died while in captivity, had been held by elements of
the Iranian-supported terrorist group Hizballah, which receives
substantial amounts of financing, training, and political
direction from Tehran. The release of the hostages was achieved
largely through the efforts of UN Secretary General Javier
Perez de Cuellar and his special envoy Giandomenico Picco. The
releases apparently reflected a belief held by both the
Government of Iran and the hostage holders themselves that the
continued detention of the hostages served no purpose. The
United States made no concessions to gain the hostages' release.
</p>
<p> At year's end, two German hostages, Thomas Kemptner and
Heinrich Struebig, remained captive in Lebanon. We continue to
call for the immediate, safe, and unconditional release of all
persons held outside the legal system in the region as well as
an accounting of all those who may have died while in captivity.
</p>
<p> During 1991 Iran continued to build closer ties to
Palestinian terrorist groups and Islamic militant organizations.
Iran has issued conferences like "Intifadah and the Islamic
World"--held in Iran during the period 19-22 October--to
maintain contact with numerous terrorist groups. Subsequent to
this conference, some such groups issued threats to participants
in the Middle East peace talks.
</p>
<p> Iran also continued its practice of assassinating dissidents;
Iranian agents are the prime suspects in the murder of former
Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar in Paris last August, and the
French Government has issued an international arrest warrant for
an Iranian official suspected of supporting the operation.
</p>
<p> Seven Americans died during 1991 in terrorist attacks:
</p>
<p>-- On 2 January in El Salvador, the Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) downed a US helicopter carrying three US
military advisers who were en route to Honduras. Two of them,
Lt. Col. David Pickett and crew chief PFC Earnest Dawson, were
brutally executed after surviving the crash. The third, CWO
Daniel Scott, died of injuries suffered in the shootdown. (The
incident is considered terrorism because the three advisers
provided administrative/logistic support from Honduras to US
military personnel assigned to El Salvador and were thus
noncombatants.)
</p>
<p>-- The Turkish terrorist group Devrimci Sol (Revolutionary Left
or Dev Sol) murdered two Americans last year. On 7 February in
Adana, Bobbie Eugene Mozelle, an American contract employee of
the Department of Defense, was shot as he left his apartment on
the way to his car. On 22 March in Istanbul, another American
contract employee of the Department of Defense, John Gandy, was
murdered when three gunmen entered his office, separated him
from the other employees, and shot him in the head.
</p>
<p>-- On 12 March in Glyfada, Greece, US Air Froce Sgt. Ronald
Odell Stewart was killed by a bomb explosion outside his
residence. The Greek terrorist group 17 November was
responsible.
</p>
<p>-- US Sgt. Victor D. Marvick was killed in a car bombing in
Ankara, Turkey on 28 October. The Turkish-based Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility for the attack.
</p>
<p> Attacks against US targets increased sharply in 1991 because
of the Persian Gulf war (308 last year vs. 193 in 1990). The
United States was a target in 55 percent of attacks last year as
compared with 42 percent in 1990. Most of these attacks were
low-level bombings that caused few casualties and little damage.
US businesses such as banks and restaurants were most frequently
targeted. Anti-US attacks in Western Europe numbered 93 last
year, up sharply from 17 in 1990; most of these occurred in
Turkey, Italy, and Greece. Numerous anti-US attacks also
occurred in Peru and Colombia.
</p>
<p> Terrorism decreased sharply in Asia (47 last year vs. 92 in
1990) and in Africa (3 last year vs. 53 the previous year).
</p>
<p> There were far fewer terrorist casualties in 1991. Eighty-
seven people died, as compared with 200 in 1990, and 233 were
wounded, as compared with 677 in 1990.
</p>
<p>Source: United States Department of State, April 1992.</p>
</body></article></text>