Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks

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Attacks by al-Qaeda
1st WTC – PR Flight 434 – African embassies – USS Cole – Rizal Day – 2nd WTC/Pentagon/Shanksville – Ghriba – Limburg – Mombasa – Riyadh – Casablanca – Istanbul – Madrid – 2nd Khobar – Sinai – 1st London – 2nd London – Sharm el-Sheikh – Amman – Dahab
Other Al-Qaeda-connected attacks:
Iraq – Algeria – Afghanistan – Pakistan

Al-Qaeda attacks began on December 29, 1992, when bombs at two hotels in Aden, Yemen kill two Austrian tourists. The blasts were targeting U.S. servicemen on their way to Somalia.[1]

The following is a list of known and suspected acts of al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda does not take credit for most of the following actions, resulting in ambiguity over how many attacks the group has actually conducted. Following the U.S. declaration of the War on Terrorism in 2001, the U.S. government has striven to highlight any connections between other militant groups and al-Qaeda. Some prefer to attribute to al-Qaedaism actions that might not be directly planned by al-Qaeda as a military headquarters, but which are inspired by its tenets and strategies.

Contents

[edit] Operation Bojinka

Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheik Mohammed planned Operation Bojinka, a plot to destroy airplanes in mid-Pacific flight using explosives. An apartment fire in Manila, Philippines exposed the plan before it could be carried out. Yousef was arrested, but Mohammed evaded capture until 2003. They tested their attacks on the Philippine Airlines Flight 434.

[edit] 1998 U.S. embassy bombings

Al-Qaeda is believed to have conducted the bombings in August 1998 of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 5,000 others.

[edit] 1999 and 2000 attacks

USS Cole after it was bombed
USS Cole after it was bombed

In December 1999 and into 2000, al-Qaeda planned attacks against U.S. and Israeli tourists visiting Jordan for millennial celebrations; however, Jordanian authorities thwarted the planned attacks and put 28 suspects on trial. Part of this plot included the planned bombing of LAX, but this plot was foiled when bomber Ahmed Ressam was caught at the US-Canadian border with explosives in the trunk of his car. Al-Qaeda also planned to attack the USS The Sullivans on January 3, 2000, but the effort failed due to too much weight being put on the small boat meant to bomb the ship.

Despite the setback with the USS The Sullivans, al-Qaeda succeeded in bombing a U.S. warship in October 2000 with the USS Cole bombing. German police foiled a plot to destroy a cathedral in Strasbourg, France in December 2000.

[edit] September 11, 2001 attacks

Main article: September 11, 2001 attacks

The most destructive act ascribed to al-Qaeda was the series of attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. These attacks destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon in a series of suicide hijacking of airplanes. Bin Laden did take credit for the attacks days before the 2004 Presidential Election.

[edit] Other attacks 2001-03

Other attacks ascribed to al-Qaeda and its affiliates include:

Al-Qaeda has strong alliances with a number of other Islamic militant organizations including the Indonesian Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah, responsible for the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings; Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Abu Sayyaf.

Although there have been no identified al-Qaeda attacks within the territory of the United States since the September 11, 2001 attacks, attacks in the Middle East, Far East, Africa and Europe involving extensive casualties and turmoil have been attributed to organizations with affiliation to al-Qaeda, though not always directly to al-Qaeda itself.

[edit] 2003-present attacks in Iraq

Main article: Terrorist attacks of the Iraq War

[edit] March 11, 2004 Madrid attacks

Further information: 2004 Madrid train bombings

On the day of the 2004 Madrid train bombings, the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported receiving an email from a group affiliated with al-Qaeda claiming responsibility. The authenticity of that claim has been questioned,[2] and the group making the claim was qualified by U.S. officials as "notoriously unreliable".[3] The coincidence in timing of the attacks with elections in Spain inspired several politically-focused speculations on the real identity of the perpetrators, with many initially suspecting ETA.[4] Direct al-Qaeda involvement in the Madrid 2004 bombings has been discounted by some sources,[5] and mildly asserted by the MIPT.[6]

Interpol and the Spanish Government now concur that a fanatical Islamic group of individuals were the perpetrators and that there was no operational relationship with al Qaeda at all.[7][8][9]

[edit] July 7, 2005 London bombings

Al-Qaeda is believed to be involved in the 7 July 2005 London bombings ("7/7" bombings), a series of attacks against mass transit in London which killed 57 people, including the 4 suicide bombers (see Mohammad Sidique Khan). A statement from a previously unknown group, "The Secret Organization of al-Qaeda in Europe" claimed responsibility; however, the authenticity of the statement and the group's connection to al-Qaeda have not been independently verified. The suspected perpetrators have not been definitively linked to al-Qaeda, although the contents of a video tape made by one of the bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan prior to his death and subsequently sent to Al Jazeera gives strong credence to an al-Qaeda connection. An apparently unconnected group attempted to duplicate the attack later that month, but their bombs failed to detonate.

An official inquiry by the British government reported that the bombers had no direct support from al Qaeda[10].

[edit] 2005 Jordan attacks

Al-Qaeda in Iraq is suspected in the November 9, 2005 Amman, Jordan attacks in which three simultaneous bombings occurred at American franchise-owned hotels in Amman. The blasts killed 57 and injured 120 people. Most of the injured and killed were attending a wedding at the Radisson Hotel. The targeting of celebrating Muslim civilians cost al-Zarqawi (the man believed to have planned the attacks) greatly in Jordanian public opinion, and to a lesser extent in Arab public opinion as a whole.

[edit] 2007 Algiers bombings

Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb claimed to have been responsible for the April 11, 2007 Algiers bombings. Two bombs exploded within a short time of each other, one at the prime ministers office and the other at a police station. The blasts killed 33 people. It was the first time a bombing had occurred in the capital in more than a decade.

[edit] 2008 Bombing of Danish Embassy

Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Danish Embassy situated in Pakistan the 2th of June 2008. A car bomb was set off killing 6 people and injuring a number of people. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda, issued a statement the 5th of June, claiming that the attack was a response to the publishing of the Muhammed Cartoons in 2005.[11]


[edit] References

  1. ^ frontline: the man who knew: timeline - al qaeda's global context | PBS
  2. ^ [1] Madrid Bluff?. Letter doesn't look like al Qaeda. National Review
  3. ^ [2] Madrid Massacre Probe Widens: ...The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said Thursday evening it had received a claim of responsibility in the name of al Qaeda...[]...The group making the claim, Abu Hafs al Masri Brigades, is affiliated with al-Qaeda and has carried out bombings before. But U.S. officials caution the group is "notoriously unreliable" and does not necessarily speak for Osama bin Laden's organization. For example, Abu Hafs took credit for last summer's Northeast blackout.
  4. ^ A senior official in Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's office said the government was studying the reported claim but still thought ETA was more likely behind the attacks...[]..."When ETA attacks, the Basque heart breaks into a thousand pieces", Basque regional president Juan Jose Ibarretxe said...[]...The Interior Ministry said tests showed the explosives used in the attacks were a kind of dynamite normally used by ETA...[]...The bombers used titadine, a kind of compressed dynamite also found in a bomb-laden van intercepted last month as it headed for Madrid, a source at Aznar's office said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Officials blamed ETA then, too.
  5. ^ The Independent article:While the bombers may have been inspired by Bin Laden, a two-year investigation into the attacks has found no evidence that al-Qa'ida helped plan, finance or carry out the bombings, or even knew about them in advance
  6. ^ [3] "the length of time between the Madrid bombings and Abu Nayaf al-Afghani’s claim has cast doubt on its authenticity..[]...Other sources attribute the March 11 attacks to the group Abu Dujana Al-Afghani Ansar Al-Qaeda Europe, which appears be an alias for Abu Nayaf al-Afghani. A separate al-Qaeda linked organization, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade, also declared responsibility for the Madrid attacks, and although it faces similar questions about the validity of its claims, it is generally regarded by authorities as having carried out the attacks"
  7. ^ MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Database (see MIPT)
  8. ^ The Times Bomb squad link in Spanish blast
  9. ^ The worst Islamist attack in European history | World news | guardian.co.uk
  10. ^ Leak reveals official story of London bombings | UK news | The Observer
  11. ^ http://www.nefafoundation.org/miscellaneous/FeaturedDocs/nefadenmarkpakistan0608.pdf