Timeline: Major Worldwide Terrorist Attacks

  2. 1979 – Nov. 4

  3. Tehran, Iran:
  4. Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy, taking 66 hostages. 14 were later released.
  5. The remaining 52 hostages were freed 444 days later.

  2. 1983 – Sept. 20

  3. East Beirut, Lebanon:
  4. A truck bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy annex.
  5. 24 killed – including 2 U.S. military.

  2. 1983 – Dec. 12

  3. Kuwait City, Kuwait:
  4. Shiite truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other targets.
  5. 5 killed, 80 others injured.

  2. 1985 – Dec. 18

  3. Rome, Italy & Vienna, Austria:
  4. Shiite truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other targets.
  5. 5 killed, 80 others injured.

  2. 1986 – April 2

  3. Athens, Greece:
  4. A bomb exploded aboard TWA Flight 840 en route from Rome to Athens.
  5. 4 Americans killed, 9 others injured.

  2. 1988 – Dec. 21

  3. Lockerbie, Scotland:
  4. Shiite truck bombers attacked the U.S. embassy and other targets.
  5. 5 killed, 80 others injured.

  2. 1993 – Feb. 26

  3. New York City:
  4. A truck bomb explodes in the basement garage of World Trade Center.
  5. 6 killed and at least 1,040 injured.

  2. 1995 – April 4

  3. Oklahoma City:
  4. A truck bomb explodes outside the federal office building, collapsing walls and floors.
  5. 168 killed, including 19 children and 1 person who died in the rescue effort.

  2. 1996 – June 4

  3. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia:
  4. A truck bomb explodes outside the Khobar Towers military complex.
  5. 19 U.S. servicemen killed, hundreds of others injured.

  2. 1998 – Aug. 4

  3. Nairobi, Kenya & Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:
  4. Truck bombs explode outside U.S. embassies.
  5. 224 killed & about 4,500 injured.

  2. 2000 – Oct. 12

  3. Aden, Yemen:
  4. The U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it.
  5. 17 U.S. sailors killed.

  2. 2001 – Sept. 11

  3. New York, Washington DC & Pennsylvania:
  4. Two planes are crashed into World Trade Center, another is crashed into the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashes in Pennsylvania.
  5. Over 3,000 killed, including U.S. military, airline & rescue personnel.