Overview of Terrorism in the 1990s

出处：按学科分类—政治、法律 BERKSHIREPUBLISHINGGROUP《PatternsofGlobalTerrorism1985-2005：U.S.DepartmentofStateReportswithSupplementaryDocumentsandStatistics》第296页（5112字）

Anna Sabasteanski

Worldwide Terrorist Attacks, 1990-1999

1990 455 attacks

1991 557 attacks

1992 361 attacks

1993 427 attacks

1994 321 attacks

1995 440 attacks

1996 296 attacks

1997 304 attacks

1998 273 attacks

1999 392 attacks

This section of the encyclopedia presents Patterns of Global Terrorism’s country reports on terrorism from the 1990s.

The decline in terrorist attacks seen in 1989 continued into 1990, with attacks dropping to 455. There were no spectacular incidents, but Iraq invaded Kuwait on 2 August, garnering support from a number of Palestinian groups. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opening of Eastern Europe, terrorists lost another source of support and safe haven.

The 1990 Gulf War that followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait led to a 22 percent increase in terrorist attacks, from 455 in 1990 to 557 in 1991. Half those attacks occurred in January and February, while Operation Desert Storm was under way. Libya garnered special attention in 1991 after it was linked to the 1988 downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, and to the 1989 bombing of a French airline, UTA Flight 772, in Niger.

In 1992 there was a dramatic decrease in attacks, which declined more than one-third to 361. Nearly 40 percent of these attacks were directed against U.S. property or civilians. The one spectacular attack of the year was the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina, which accounted for about 40 percent of those wounded.

In 1993 the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a group fighting for an independent Kurdistan, increased the intensity of their anti-Turkish campaign, staging 150 attacks, most taking place over the course of two days in western Europe. This campaign was responsible for an increase in the total number of terrorist incidents to 427. The one spectacular attack of the year was the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City on 26 February. Six people were killed in that attack and a thousand injured. We now know this was an announcement of al-Qaeda’s intentions and a precursor of what was to come.

There were 321 international terrorist attacks in 1994, a 25 percent decline from 1993. The incident with the highest number of casualties was the July bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that killed nearly a hundred people and wounded more than two hundred.

PKK attacks in Germany and Turkey contributed to an increase in attacks in 1995 to 440. The number of people wounded increased by a factor of ten, due to more than 5,000 people being injured when the Aum Shinrikyo religious sect released sarin gas (a nerve gas) on a Tokyo subway line. Had dispersion been more effective, the number dead could have been far higher.

In 1996 the number of attacks dropped to 296, but mass attacks against civilians and the use of more powerful bombs increased the casualty rates to their highest to that point. The deadliest attack in 1996 was in Colombo, Sri Lanka, when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, commonly known as the Tamil Tigers), a separatist group, rammed a truck full of explosives into the Central Bank, killing 90 and wounding more than 1,400.

The number of attacks in 1997 changed little from the year before. Colombian rebels, primarily associated with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), repeatedly attacked oil pipelines in that country. Those attacks accounted for one-third of 1997’s 304 international terrorist attacks. The deadliest attack was at the Hatshepsut Temple in Luxor, Egypt, in which fiffty-eight foreign tourists were methodically shot dead or knifed, as well as two Egyptian policemen and an Egyptian tour guide. All six gunmen were killed as they fied the scene.

For many Americans and East Africans, terrorism in 1998 was defined by the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August. Five thousand people were injured in Nairobi, Kenya, and 291 killed. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, ten were killed and seventyseven wounded. Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, who claimed responsibility, began to be viewed as serious threats. In terms of overall numbers of attacks, 1998 saw a reduction to 273.

The number of casualties in 1999 declined because there were no massive attacks. However, the number of attacks increased by 43 percent to 392. The increase was attributed to protests against the NATO bombing campaign in Serbia, reaction to the arrest of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, and the kidnapping for ransom of foreign oil workers in Nigeria. Oil interests in Colombia were also frequently targeted.