The following is a timeline of acts and failed attempts that can be considered terrorism.
Note: there is no single accepted definition of terrorism in common use. Incidents listed here are commonly called terrorism, or meet some of the commonly used criteria.
11th Century, Syria & Iran : The hash-shashin was an Islamic sect that murdered important enemies. Many say that their name is the source for the word 'assassin'.
16th century
Hernán Cortés, after hearing rumors of plots to kill him, massacres the inhabitants of Cholula and burns down the city.
1773, USA : The Boston Tea Party was one of the first colonists' rebellious acts of the American Revolution. Today, the FBI classifies this as an act of terrorism, under destruction of property for purposes of political coercion.
1976 December 14 In the Netherlands, near Beilen, a passenger train was hijacked by members of the RMS movement, passengers were kept hostage. Three passengers were killed by the hijackers.
1977 May 23 In the Netherlands, RMS activists kept 105 children and 5 teachers hostage in a school in Smilde.
1977 June 11 In the Netherlands, near Groningen, a passenger train was hijacked by members of the RMS, 55 passengers were kept hostage. In an army attack six hijackers and two passengers were killed.
1978 March In the Netherlands members of the RMS movement occupy a provincial office in Assen. 67 persons were kept hostage, one official was killed on the spot, another died of injuries a month later.
1978 Hilton bombing: A bomb is detonated outside the CHOGM meeting in Sydney, Australia, killing 2 people. 3 Ananda Marga members are later arrested and jailed for the attack
1979July 29, ETA Basque terrorist group bombs two railway stations in Madrid, kills 7.
1979 August 27Lord Mountbatten and three others are killed by IRA bomb on board his boat off Mullaghmore. The same day two IRA bombs kill 18 British Soldiers near Warrenpoint.
1980 April 30Iranian Embassy siege Iraqi agents took over the Iranian Embassy in London, gaining hostages. After a number of days, one hostage was killed by the Iraqis, and the Special Air Service assaulted the building to rescue the remaining hostages. One hostage died during the assault.
1985 IRA mortar attack kills nine soldiers in Newry
1985 June 22Air India Flight 182 is blown up by a bomb put onboard the flight from Canada by Sikh nationalists. All 329 people on board are killed. The single most deadly terrorist attack prior to September 11, 2001.
1985 Investigators associated with the WHO reported that U.S.-funded Contras repeatedly destroyed health-care facilities and murdered health-care workers in Nicaraqua.
1986 New Year's Eve fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, claimed 97 lives, mainly in the casino area. Fire set by 3 hotel workers, trying to make tourists stay away from Puerto Rico as a protest to their working wages.
1986 TWA Flight 840 bombed on approach to Athens airport; 4 Americans, including an infant, are killed.
1993 June 21ETA Basque terrorist group bombs a military truck in Madrid, kills 7, 36 injured.
1993 July 5 the IRA detonate a 1500lb car bomb (the largest used in Northern Ireland) in the centre of Newtownards in Northern Ireland, no one is killed but massive property damage is caused to the town centre.
1993 October 30 Seven people killed in a Loyalist UFF gun attack in a bar in Greysteel, Co Derry.
1994Bombing of Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 86 and wounds 300. Eight days later the Israeli Embassy in London and a Jewish charity are car-bombed. 20 are wounded. All three incidents are blamed on Hezbollah.
1994 Air FranceFlight 8969 is hijacked by GIA members who planned to crash the plane on Paris but didn't succeed.
1994 A small bomb explodes on board Philippine Airlinesflight 434, killing a Japanese businessman. Authorities found out that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb to test it for his planned terrorist attack.
1994 June 18 Six Catholic men shot dead by Loyalists in a pub in Loughinisland, Co Derry.
1995Operation Bojinka is discovered on a laptop computer in a Manila, Philippines apartment by authorities after an apartment fire occurred in the apartment.
1995 April 19ETA Basque militant group tries to kill José María Aznar (then leader of the Popular Party, later a Spanish Prime Minister) bombing his car, kills a woman.
1996 April 18 Qana massacre: the killing of over a hundred civilians and when the IDF, under Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, shell a UN refugee camp at Qana (or Kana) in Israeli-occupied Southern Lebanon as part of Operation Grapes of Wrath against Hezbollah guerrillas. Hundreds more refugees are mutilated (e.g. limbs amputated, blinded, etc.) by shrapnel, and some of the dead were beheaded by shrapnel.
1997 Islamic terrorists attack tourists in Luxor, Egypt, killing 71 people, most of them European and Japanese vacationers.
1997 A terrorist opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine".
1997 December 22. Acteal massacre - 46 killed while praying in Acteal, Chiapas, Mexico. A paramilitary group associated with ex-president Salinas is held responsible.
2001 Anthrax attacks on the offices the United States Congress and New York State Government offices, and on employees of television networks and tabloid
In addition, the ratio of incidents of use to the total number of incidents in that region increased during 2000 in the United States and Canada (from 11% to 34%), the Middle East and North Africa (from 20% to 60%), and Russia/NIS (from 0% to 47%).
Only one incident involving anthrax was not a hoax (a case of alleged but unverified possession), with the most common agents used being tear gas, acid, and monazite (a material containing thorium, a radioactive isotope).
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