Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks

Al-Qaeda attacks (also al-Qa'ida) began in 1992, with coordinated bombings of two hotels in Aden, Yemen, killing one Australian tourist.^[1] In an interview with Abdel Bari Atwan, Bin Laden has claimed al-Qaeda responsibility for the 1993 attack on U.S. troops in Mogadishu, the bombing of the National Guard Training Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1995, and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. However, there is no solid evidence to support these claims from Bin Laden, though he may have provided financial support along with inspiration for the attackers.^[2]

In 1998, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ayman al-Zawahiri officially joined al-Qaeda. Zawahiri previously led the Egyptian Islamic Group which carried out numerous attacks in Egypt along with assassination attempts against Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, possibly with financial support from Osama bin Laden.^[3][4] Khalid Sheikh Mohammed also organized attacks prior to joining al-Qaeda, possibly with some financial support from Bin Laden. Al-Qaeda was directly involved in coordinating the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, along with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, and the September 11 attacks. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, following the September 11 attacks, training camps were destroyed and al-Qaeda leaders were on the run. Numerous attacks have been carried out since the September 11 attacks. But, they have been much smaller in scale and many of the attackers have been only loosely affiliated or acted independently with inspiration from al-Qaeda, rather than direct coordination and orders from al-Qaeda leaders.

The following list is of acts attributed or claimed by al-Qaeda. Bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda leaders do not take credit for some of them, resulting in ambiguity over how many attacks the group has actually conducted. After the United States declaration of the War on Terrorism in 2001, the U.S. government has sought 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 that are inspired by its tenets and strategies.

Early 1990s

On December 29, 1992,^[5] the first attack by Al Qaeda was carried out in Aden, Yemen.^[1][6][7] That evening, a bomb went off at the Gold Mohur hotel, where U.S. troops had been staying while en-route to Somalia, though the troops had already left when the bomb exploded. The bombers targeted a second hotel, the Aden Movenpick, where they believed American troops might also be staying. That bomb detonated prematurely in the hotel car park, around the same time as the other bomb explosion, killing two Australian tourists.^[5][6] Bin Laden later claimed responsibility for the 1992 Yemen attack.^[1]

The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when Ramzi Yousef parked a rented van full of explosives in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center. The explosion claimed six victims, and over one thousand people were wounded. Ramzi Yousef, the nephew of 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had trained in Afghanistan, although Khalid Sheikh Mohammed did not join Al Qaeda until 1998. Yousef worked in cooperation with the blind sheikh Abdul Rahman who was living across the Hudson, in Jersey City, at the time of the attack. The FBI later turned up evidence that Osama bin Laden provided financial support to the blind sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman.^[8]

Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (prior to joining with Al Qaeda) planned Operation Bojinka, a plot to destroy airplanes in mid-Pacific flight using explosives.^[9] They tested their attacks in November 1994 on the Philippine Airlines Flight 434, which also involved Abu Sayyaf (a Southeast Asia affiliate of Al Qaeda).^[10] An apartment fire in Manila, Philippines exposed the plan before it could be carried out. Yousef was arrested, but Mohammed evaded capture until 2003.^[11]

1998 U.S.-embassy bombings

In August 1998, Al-Qaeda operatives carried out the bombings 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.^[12]

2000

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.

• Rizal Day Bombings in the Philippines (2000)

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 (currently being rebuilt) and damaged the Pentagon in a series of suicide hijacking of airplanes. Osama bin Laden did take credit for the attacks days before the 2004 Presidential Election.^[13]

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.^[14]

2008 Danish-embassy bombing

Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan on 2 June 2008. A car bomb killed six persons and injuring several.^[15] Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, a high-ranking member of Al-Qaeda, issued a statement after the bombing, claiming that the attack was a response to the 2005 publication of the Muhammed Cartoons.^[16]

Notes

References

• Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 037541486X.