Timeline of al-Qaeda attacks

The following is a list of attacks which have been carried out by Al-Qaeda or al-Qaeda in Iraq.

1990s
On December 29, 1992, the first attack by Al-Qaeda was carried out in Aden, Yemen known as the 1992 Yemen Hotel Bombings. 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. Bin Laden later claimed that he and Mohamed Khan were responsible for the 1992 Yemen attack.

February 1993 World Trade Center
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 Omar Abdul-Rahman who was living across the Hudson, in Jersey City, at the time of the attack.

1995 Bojinka, Philippine Airlines Flight 434
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. 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). An apartment fire in Manila, Philippines exposed the plan before it could be carried out. Yousef was arrested, but Mohammed evaded capture until 2003.

1995 Saudi National Guard training center bombing
On November 13, 1995, five Americans and two Indians were killed in the truck bombing of a US-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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.

2000 USS Cole bombing
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.

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. Four commercial airliners were hijacked. Two of these were crashed into the Twin Towers which later collapsed, destroying the rest of the World Trade Center building complex. The third was crashed into the Pentagon and the fourth in a field during a struggle between passengers and hijackers to control the airplane. An investigation conducted after the attacks concluded that members of al-Qaeda planned and orchestrated the attacks. Osama bin Laden initially denied his organization's involvement, but later in 2004 admitted his organization was responsible.

April 2002 Ghriba bombing
On April 11, 2002, a natural gas truck fitted with explosives drove past security barriers at the ancient Ghriba Synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba. The truck detonated at the front of the synagogue, killing 14 German tourists, three Tunisians, and two French nationals. More than 30 others were wounded. Al Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the attack.

October 2002 Limburg bombing
The 2002 Limburg bombing occurred on 6 October, 2002. The Limburg was carrying 397,000 barrels (63,100 m3) of crude oil from Iran to Malaysia, and was in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen to pick up another load of oil. It was registered under a French-flag and had been chartered by the Malaysian petrol firm Petronas. While it was some distance offshore, an explosives-laden dinghy rammed the starboard side of the tanker and detonated. The vessel caught on fire and approximately 90,000 barrels (14,000 m3) of oil leaked into the Gulf of Aden. Although Yemeni officials initially claimed that the explosion was caused by an accident, later investigations found traces of TNT on the damaged ship. One crew member, a 38 year-old Bulgarian named Atanas Atanasov, was killed, and 12 other crew members were injured.

October 2002 Bali bombings
The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district.

November 2002 Mombasa attacks
The 2002 Mombasa attacks occurred on 28 November 2002 in Kenya. Al Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the attacks.

May 2003 Riyadh bombing
The 2003 Riyadh compound bombings occurred on 12 May 2003, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 36 people were killed, and over 160 wounded.

May 2003 Casablanca bombings
The 2003 Casablanca bombings occurred on May 16, 2003 in Casablanca, Morocco. 45 people were killed as a result of these attacks (12 suicide-bombers and 33 victims).

August 2003 Jakarta bombing
The 2003 Jakarta bombing occurred on August 5, 2003 in Jakarta, Indonesia. A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW Marriott Hotel, killing twelve people and injuring 150. Those killed were mostly Indonesian, with the exception of one Dutch.

November 2003 Istanbul attacks
The 2003 Istanbul bombings were four truck bomb attacks carried out on November 15, 2003 and November 20, 2003, in Istanbul, Turkey, leaving 67 people dead, and 700 wounded. Several men have been convicted for their involvement.

March 2004 Madrid attacks
The March 11, 2004 Madrid train bombings was an Islamist terrorist attack in Madrid (Spain) that killed 191 people and wounded more than 2,000. The terror cell had links to Al Qaeda. It was the worst Islamist attack in European history.

May 2004 Khobar massacre
Al-Qaeda is believed to have been responsible for the 2004 Khobar massacre, carried out on May 29, 2004.

July 7, 2005 London transport bombings
Four members of Al-Qaeda, three of British Pakistani descent and one of British Jamaican descent attacked London's public transport on July 7, 2005. Three bombs were detonated on the London Underground and one on a double decker bus. The attacks took place between 8.50 am and 9.47 am. 56 people died during the attacks (including 4 terrorists) and around 700 were injured. The attack occurred the day after the city was selected to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

June 2, 2008 Danish-embassy bombing
Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan on June 2, 2008. A car bomb killed six people and injured several. 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.

July 13, 2008 Battle of Wanat
The Battle of Wanat occurred on July 13, 2008, when forces including Al-Qaeda and Taliban guerrillas attacked NATO troops near the village of Wanat in the Waygal district in Afghanistan's far eastern province of Nuristan. The Battle of Wanat has been described as the "Black Hawk Down" of the War in Afghanistan, as one of the bloodiest attacks of the war and one of several attacks on remote outposts.[8] In contrast to previous roadside bombs and haphazard attacks and ambushes, this attack was well coordinated with fighters from many insurgent and terrorist groups with an effort that was disciplined and sustained which was able to target key assets such as the TOW launcher with precision.

September 20, 2008 Islamabad Marriott Hotel bombing
Al-Qaeda is believed to have been responsible for the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan on September 20, 2008. A truck bomb killed 54 people and injured 266 people.

December 2009 Northwest Airlines Flight 253
Shortly after the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the December 25, 2009 bombing attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, the suspect reportedly told officials he had traveled to Yemen for training by Al-Qaeda, although British counterterrorism officials dismissed the claims. President Barack Obama's top security official Janet Napolitano on December 27 stated "Right now we have no indication it's part of anything larger", warning it would be "inappropriate to speculate" that Al-Qaeda had sent Abdulmutallab on a suicide mission. On December 28, President Obama called it an "attempted terrorist attack" and promised to "to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan...". That same day, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack. The group released photos of Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab smiling in a white shirt and white Islamic skullcap with the Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula banner in the background. On January 8, 2010, President Barack Obama took responsibility for security lapses exposed by the attack, declaring in televised remarks "We are at war against Al-Qaeda", noting "our adversaries will seek new ways to evade them, as was shown by the Christmas attack" By February 2010, the suspect told federal investigators that cleric Anwar al-Awlaki gave him orders to carry out the attack. Al-Jazeera reported that Awlaki issued a statement that "Brother mujahed Umar Farouk – may God relieve him – is one of my students, yes... We had kept in contact, but I didn't issue a fatwa to Umar Farouk for this operation,".

Dec 30, 2009
An Al-Qaeda agent posing as a double agent killed 7 CIA officers in the Camp Chapman attack on December 30, 2009. The Jordanian man, thought to be an American asset penetrating Al-Qaeda was brought in the wire of the camp and detonated an explosive belt, killing 7 CIA, 1 Jordanian intelligence officer, and seriously wounding six others.

2010 Pune bombing
Al-Qaeda leader Mustafa Abu Yazid claimed responsibility for the bombing of a German bakery in India in a posthumous audio tape released on June 15, 2010. The blast killed 17 people, and injured at least 60 more.

October 2010 cargo plane bomb plot
In the Cargo planes bomb plot two packages, each containing a bomb consisting of 300 to(-) of plastic explosives and a detonating mechanism, were found on On October 29, 2010 on separate cargo planes. The bombs were discovered as a result of intelligence received from Saudi Arabia's security chief. They were bound from Yemen to the United States, and were discovered at en route stop-overs, in England and in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

One week later, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) took responsibility for the plot. U.S. and British authorities had believed that AQAP, and specifically Anwar al-Awlaki, were behind the bombing attempts. They also believed the bombs were most likely constructed by AQAP's main explosives expert, Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri.

2013 In Amenas hostage crisis
The In Amenas hostage crisis began on 16 January 2013, when al-Qaeda-linked terrorists affiliated with a brigade led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar took over 800 people hostage at the Tigantourine gas facility near In Amenas, Algeria. At least 39 foreign hostages were killed along with an Algerian security guard, as were 29 militants.

August 2003 Imam Ali Mosque bombing
The Imam Ali Mosque bombing was the detonation of two car bombs outside of the Shia Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf on August 29, 2003

February 2004 Irbil bombings
The 2004 Irbil bombings was a double suicide attack on the offices of Kurdish political parties in Irbil, Iraq, north of Baghdad on February 2, 2004. The attackers detonated explosives strapped to their bodies as hundreds gathered to celebrate Eid Al-Adha in Irbil.

March 2004 Iraq Ashura bombings
The Ashura massacre of March 2, 2004 in Iraq was a series of planned terrorist explosions that killed at least 178 and injured at least 500 Iraqi Shi'a Muslims commemorating the Day of Ashura. The bombings brought one of the deadliest days in the Iraq occupation after the Iraq War to topple Saddam Hussein.

April 2004 Basra bombings
21 April 2004 Basra bombings were a series of large car bomb explosions which ripped through Basra, Iraq.

July 2005 Musayyib bombing
The 2005 Musayyib bombing was a suicide attack on a marketplace in Musayyib, Iraq, a town 35 miles south of Baghdad on July 16, 2005.

September 2005 Baghdad bombings
The 14 September 2005 Baghdad bombings were a series of more than a dozen terrorist attacks in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

November 2005 Khanaqin bombings
2005 Khanaqin bombings were suicide attacks on two Shia mosques in Khanaqin, Iraq.

April 2006 Buratha Mosque bombing
The Buratha Mosque bombing was a triple suicide bombing that occurred on April 7, 2006 in Baghdad.

November 2006 Sadr City, Iraq bombings
The 2006 Sadr City bombings were a series of car bombs and mortar attacks in Iraq that began on 23 November at 15:10 Baghdad time (12:10 Greenwich Mean Time) and ended at 15:55 (12:55 GMT). Six car bombs and two mortar rounds were used in the attack on the Shi'ite Muslim slum in Sadr City.

February 2007 Baghdad market bombing
The 3 February 2007 Baghdad market bombing was the detonation of a large truck bomb in a busy market in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on 3 February 2007. The suicide attack killed at least 135 people and injured 339 others.

March 2007 Tal Afar bombings
The 2007 Tal Afar bombings and massacre took place on March 27, 2007, when two truck bombs targeted Shia areas of the town of Tal Afar, Iraq, killing 152 and wounding 347 people.

April 2007 Baghdad Iraq bombings
The 18 April 2007 Baghdad bombings were a series of attacks that occurred when five car bombs exploded across Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, on 18 April 2007, killing nearly 200 people.

August 14, 2007 Yazidi community Iraq bombing
The 2007 Yazidi communities bombings occurred at around 8pm local time on August 14, 2007, when four co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks detonated in the Kurdish towns of Kahtaniya and Jazeera (Siba Sheikh Khidir), near Mosul. Iraqi Red Crescent's estimates say the bombs killed 796 and wounded 1,562 people, making this the Iraq War's most deadly car bomb attack during the period of major American combat operations.

August 2009 Baghdad bombings
The 19 August 2009 Baghdad bombings were three coordinated car bomb attacks and a number of mortar strikes in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

October 2009 Baghdad bombings
On 25 October 2009 Baghdad bombings there were attacks in Baghdad, Iraq which killed 155 people and injured at least 721 people.

April 2010 Baghdad bombings
The April 2010 Baghdad bombings were a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraq that killed at least 85 people over two days.

May 2010 Iraq attacks
The 10 May 2010 Iraq attacks were a series of bomb and shooting attacks that occurred in Iraq on 10 May 2010, killing over 100 people and injuring 350, the highest death toll for a single day in Iraq in 2010.

November 2010
The 2 November 2010 Baghdad bombings were a series of bomb attacks in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed more than 110 people.

January 2011 Iraq suicide attacks
The January 2011 Iraq suicide attacks were a series of three consecutive suicide bombings in Iraq which left at least 133 dead.