Timeline of Terrorist Attacks on America Search the archives for more information on terrorist attacks on America
1886: May 4 In the first true act of terrorism in America, an unknown anarchist throws a bomb into a crowd of police officers, killing several and wounding dozens. The police were present trying to break up a gathering of laborers. Read Article More Rioting The Newark Daily Advocate, May 5, 1886 1920: September 16 A bomb in a horse-drawn carriage explodes on Wall Street across from the Morgan building. The explosion kills 35 and injures hundreds more. Read Article (pictured on the right) Bomb Suspect Gives Friends Warning The Oakland Tribune, September 17, 1920 1961: May 1 A man calling himself "El Pirata Cofresi" hijacks a National Airlines flight and forces the pilot to fly to Havana, Cuba. The Puerto Rican man, later identified as Atuilo Ramierez Ortiz, was apparently seeking asylum in Cuba. Read Article Airliner Back From Hijacking The Daily Times-News, May 2, 1961 1968: August 28 U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala John Gordon Mein is assassinated by a rebel faction outside of Guatemala City. Read Article Ambassador Shot Down In Guatemala The Panama City News, August 29, 1968 1975: January 24 The Puerto Rican nationalist group FALN explodes a bomb in the historic Fraunces Tavern in New York City. The bombing causes four deaths and 50 injuries. Read Article N.Y. club bombing kills 3, injures 40 The Capital, January 25, 1975 1979: November 4 Iranian students seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran after President Jimmy Carter admits the exiled Shah of Iran into the United States for medical treatment. Read Article (pictured on the right) Iranians take over embassy The Daily Herald, November 5, 1979 1983: April 18 The U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, is destroyed by a car bomb placed by the terrorist group The Islamic Jihad. The bomb kills 63, including 17 Americans. Read Article Bomb kills 28 at U.S. Embassy The Syracuse Herald Journal, April 18, 1983 1983: October 23 Suicide bombers explode a truck full of explosive near a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The attack results in the deaths of 241 Marines. Read Article (pictured on the right) 147 U.S. Marines, sailors killed… The Daily Intelligencer, October 24, 1983 1988: December 21 Pan-Am flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 passengers, including many Americans, are killed. Libya would claim responsibility for the bombing in 2003 and offered $2.7 billion to compensate the families of the victims. Read Article (pictured on the right) Jet crash: Sabotage, say experts The Chronicle-Telegram, December 22, 1988 1993: February 26 A van filled with nearly one ton of explosives detonates in the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City. The explosion, masterminded by Al-qaeda operative Ramzi Yousef, kills seven and injures hundreds. Read Article (pictured on the right) NYC terrorism feared The North Hills News Record, February 27, 1993 1995: April 19 A truck bomb explodes outside the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The blast, planned by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols as revenge for the perceived massacre of the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, two years earlier, kills 168 people, including 19 children. Read Article (pictured on the right) An act of cowardice The Intelligencer, April 20, 1995 1996: June 25 Al-Qaeda operatives explode a truck bomb at the Khobar towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Twenty-three Americans are killed and more than 300 are injured. Read Article 19 Americans die in bombing The Frederick Post, June 26, 1996 1998: August 7 US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania are bombed simultaneously with truck bombs placed by al-Qaeda operatives. Read Article Clinton vows justice for bombers The North Hills News Record, August 8, 1998 2000: October 12 17 American sailors are killed when al-Qaeda operatives ram a small boat loaded with explosives into the USS Cole during a refueling stop at a harbor in Yemen. Read Article Attack kills six on U.S. warship The Intelligencer, October 13, 2000 2001: September 11 Thousands are killed when al-Qaeda operatives fly two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center in New York City and a third plane into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. A fourth plane crashes into a field in Pennsylvania. Read Article (pictured on the right) Disaster rocks World Trade Center The Valley Independent, September 11, 2001 2002: January 22 A group linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network kidnaps Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. Pearl is executed by the group in mid-February. Read Article Group claims kidnap of newspaper reporter The Valley Independent, January 28, 2002 2005: November 9 Nearly 60 people are killed when suicide bombers hit three American hotels in Amman, Jordan simultaneously. Read Article Al-Zarqawi 'prime suspect' in Jordan's suicide bombings The Post-Standard, November 10		Newspaper Articles (click to view readable full images) The Oakland Tribune September 17, 1920 The Daily Herald November 5, 1979 The Daily Intelligencer October 24, 1983 The Chronicle-Telegram December 22, 1988 The North Hills News Record February 27, 1993 The Intelligencer April 20, 1995 The Valley Independent September 11, 2001