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76. Date: 1971
Target: Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Location: Rostov-on-Don, Russia
Details: Shortly after winning the 1970 Nobel Prize for literature, Solzhenitsyn was targeted by the KGB for assassination. While Solzhenitsyn stood at a department store counter, a KGB agent stabbed him with a poison-laced needle. Solzhenitsyn didn't feel the stick, but later broke out in severe burns and was treated by doctors for "a severe allergic reaction." The poison failed to kill him and he did not learn of the plot until 1992.
77. Date: April 7, 1971
Target: Yugoslav Ambassador Vladimir Rolovic
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Details: Two Croatian terrorists entered the embassy on the pretext of obtaining passports. They shot and killed Rolovic, and wounded his secretary.
78. Date: November 28, 1971
Target: Premier Wasfi Tell
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Details: Tell was shot to death by three Black September terrorists, while entering the Sheraton Hotel. A foreign minister and a bodyguard were also killed.
79. Date: December 7, 1972
Target: First Lady Imelda Marcos
Location: Manila, Philippines
Details: Marcos was handing out awards to individuals as they crossed the stage. Carlito Dimaali, dressed in a dark suit while the other award recipients were dressed in white, walked onto stage and pulled a 12-inch-long bolo knife out of his sleeve and attacked her, cutting her arms. Two other people were wounded: Congressman Jose Aspiras suffered a deep head wound, and event official Linda Amor Robles received a deep wound in the back. Security men overpowered Dimaali and shot him to death. Marcos was evacuated to a helicopter and flown to be a nearby hospital, where her arms received over 70 stitches. (3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)
80. Date: March 10, 1973
Target: Governor Richard Sharples
Location: Hamilton, Bermuda
Details: Sharples was shot to death while walking his dog outside the governor's residence. An aide-de-camp, Captain Hugh Sayers, was also killed. Six members of the Black Beret Cadre were later arrested and two were eventually convicted of the assassination. They were hanged in December 1977.
81. Date: November 22, 1973
Target: Ford Motor Company General Manager John Swint
Location: Cordoba, Argentina
Details: Swint was being driven to work when fifteen well-dressed ERP terrorists blocked the road and opened fire with automatic weapons. Swint and two bodyguards were killed, and another was wounded.
82. Date: December 20, 1973
Target: Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco
Location: Madrid, Spain
Details: Blanco was being driven to church at 9:30 a.m., riding in his armored 1973 Dodge Dart with his driver and two bodyguards. They were followed by another car with a driver and two more bodyguards. It was a trip they routinely made every day. The terrorist group ETA had rented a basement apartment along the route and dug a T-shaped tunnel, which extended out under the street. They then packed the top of the "T" with three explosive charges, totaling about 1,200 pounds of TNT. An Austin car was double-parked to force Blanco's car to drive directly over the charges. As his car approached, a lookout signaled the triggerman. Blanco's car was blown over a five-story church. It struck the roof, bounced over, and landed on its side on a second-floor balcony, located on the opposite side of the building. All the occupants were killed. Several ETA terrorists were later arrested.
83. Date: August 19, 1974
Target: U.S. Ambassador Rodger Davies
Location: Nicosia, Cyprus
Details: Davies and his Greek Cypriot secretary were shot and killed by snipers during a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy.
84. Date: March 15, 1975
Target: King Faisal
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Details: Faisal was in a receiving line at a palace celebration when his nephew, Prince Faisal Musad Abdel Aziza, approached him. King Faisal bowed his head so that Aziza could kiss his nose, according to custom. Instead, Aziza pulled a pistol and shot the king three times in the face. Security guards overpowered Aziza. In June, Aziza was beheaded and buried in an unmarked grave.
85. Date: November 27, 1975
Target: Co-editor Ross McWhirter, The Guinness Book of World Records
Location: Village Lane, England
Details: Two IRA gunmen hid in McWhirter's garden. When his wife returned home, McWhirter stood in the open doorway to greet her. The gunmen opened fire, shooting him in the head and body. Mrs. McWhirter was not harmed.
86. Date: June 1976
Target: Chief Prosecutor Francesco Coco
Location: Genoa, Italy
Details: While Coco and his bodyguard were climbing the stairs in his home, three Red Brigade gunmen gunned them down. Two other gunmen shot Coco's police chauffeur.
87. Date: July 21, 1976
Target: British Ambassador C. Ewart-Biggs
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Details: Ewart-Biggs was riding in a car en route from his home to the state house, followed by an escort car. Three IRA terrorists set off a gelignite land mine in a culvert as their car passed over it. Ewart-Biggs and civil servant Judith Cooke were killed and two others were wounded. On other occasions, he routinely took precautions (e.g., varying his route many times a week). However, on the road connecting his residence to the main road, he had only the choice between left or right. He chose right and was killed approximately 150 yards from his residence.
88. Date: October 4, 1976
Target: Council Member Juan Araluce
Location: San Sebastian, Spain
Details: Araluce exited his limousine and was walking from his car into his home, escorted by three bodyguards, when a gunman stepped out of the shadows and raked them with machine gun fire. Araluce and his bodyguards were killed, and his chauffeur died eight hours later.
89. Date: March 16, 1977
Target: Moslem Leader Kamal Jumblat
Location: Baaklin, Lebanon
Details: Jumblat was being driven home when four gunmen opened fire, killing him, his bodyguard, and his driver. The gunmen escaped.
90. Date: April 7, 1977
Target: Chief Prosecutor Siegfried Buback
Location: Karlsruhe, West Germany
Details: Buback was being driven to work when two Baader-Meinhoff terrorists on a motorcycle pulled alongside and opened fire with a machine gun, killing him, his driver, and a bodyguard.
91. Date: July 12, 1977
Target: Former President Salinas Osmin Aguirre
Location: San Salvador, El Salvador
Details: Leftist guerillas shot and killed Aguirre outside his home. A communique stated that he was killed for his role in crushing land reform 45 years earlier.
92. Date: June 24, 1978
Target: President Ahmed Hussein al-Ghashmi.
Location: North Yemen
Details: Al-Ghashmi was assassinated when he was meeting an envoy sent by People's Democratic Republic of Yemen President Saim Ali Rubai. A briefcase, reportedly containing a secret message, exploded, killing both al-Ghashmi and the envoy. It is not conclusively known who set off the explosion. Coincidently, Rubai died three days after this event.
93. Date: September 7, 1978
Target: BBC Broadcaster Georgi Markov
Location: London, England
Details: Markov was walking to work when an agent with the Bulgarian Secret Police stabbed him in the thigh with an umbrella, implanting a ricin poison pellet. He died four days later from an apparent heart attack.
94. Date: November 18, 1978
Target: U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan
Location: Port Kaituma, Guyana
Details: Ryan had traveled to Guyana to investigate reports the People's Temple, a California-based religious cult led by Reverend Jim Jones, was abusing its followe
rs. The Temple reportedly had about 1,100 followers at a camp in Guyana, including fifty armed guards. Ryan was accompanied by 17 staff people, news reporters, and relatives of the followers. Jones denied to Ryan that anyone was being abused. During Ryan's interviews with followers, about 20 expressed a desire to leave the cult. The following day, a dispute between followers broke out and tensions were high. During the confrontation, a man rushed up to Ryan and put a knife to his throat, but Ryan eluded him. When it was clear that Ryan was leaving and would prosecute the People's Temple, Jones ordered one of the followers, Larry Layton, to join the defectors and shoot the pilot of their plane after take-off in order to kill everyone aboard. Layton found two planes at the airport and boarded one, but not Ryan's. Layton opened fire before the plane took off, wounding two before his pistol jammed and he fled into the jungle. Three more gunmen appeared and opened fire on the group. Ryan was immediately hit, along with NBC reporter Don Harris and several others. While four Guyanese soldiers stood by and watched, the gunmen shot Ryan, Harris, and two cameramen in the head, killing them. The gunmen then fled in a truck and told Jones what had occurred. Jones ordered a mass suicide in which everyone drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid, killing 913 people, including 408 Americans and over 200 children. Jones and his mistress then shot and killed themselves. Only five children and about 30 adults survived by fleeing into the jungle, including Layton.
95. Date: January 3, 1979
Target: Military Governor Constantino Ortin Gil
Location: Madrid, Spain
Details: Two men with automatic weapons, who were wearing ski parkas, gunned down Gil outside his apartment building.
96. Date: January 10, 1979
Target: Supreme Court Justice Miguel Cruz Cuenca
Location: Madrid, Spain
Details: Cuenca was gunned down outside his home as he walked to his car. He was shot twice, and the gunman escaped.
97. Date: March 22, 1979
Target: British Ambassador Richard Sykes
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
Details: Sykes was leaving his residence when two gunmen opened fire, killing him and a servant. The Provisional wing of the IRA claimed credit for the attack.
98. Date: March 30, 1979
Target: Parliament Member Airey Neave
Location: Abingdon, Berkshire
Details: Neave left his home en route to the House of Commons. A bomb with a mercury switch exploded when his car tilted down a ramp. Neave was trapped in the wreckage for a half hour, and died within minutes of being freed.
99. Date: August 27, 1979
Target: Statesman Lord Louis Mountbatten
Location: Donegal, Ireland
Details: Mountbatten and several members of his family were riding aboard his yacht, Shadow V, in Donegal Bay. IRA terrorists had hidden a radio-controlled bomb on the yacht and detonated the device. The blast destroyed the yacht, killing Mountbatten, his grandson, and a boat boy. Several others were critically injured. Another died the next day.
100. Date: October 26, 1979
Target: President Park Chung Hee
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Details: Park was attending a dinner at the KCIA building, next to the presidential compound. Following an argument over intelligence matters, KCIA Chief Kim Jae Kyu pulled a pistol and shot Park in the chest. He then shot Park's chief bodyguard Cha Chi Chol in the stomach. He then fired another shot into Park's head. Both men died. When Kim opened fire, Kim's men also fired, and they killed several of Park's bodyguards and staff.
101. Date: November 13, 1979
Target: Israeli Ambassador Ephriam Eldar
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Details: As Eldar's limousine arrived at the embassy, two PLO gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons and threw a grenade, killing one and injuring three, including Eldar and his bodyguard.
102. Date: June 22, 1980
Target: Deputy Mayor Bulent Demir
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Details: Demir was gunned down by four gunmen with automatic weapons while he was standing outside his brother's grocery store.
103. Date: August 30, 1980
Target: President Mohammed Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammed Javar Bahonar
Location: Tehran, Iran
Details: Rajai and Bahonar were killed in a bomb blast that injured several other officials.
104. Date: September 17, 1980
Target: President Anastasio Somoza
Location: Asuncion, Paraguay
Details: Somoza was riding in his Mercedes with his driver, a bodyguard, and an advisor. Gunmen opened fire with a bazooka and submachine guns, killing them all. The gunmen escaped.
105. Date: May 13, 1981
Target: Pope John Paul II
Location: Rome, Italy
Details: The Pope was riding in an open vehicle through a crowd of 15,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square. Mehmet Ali Agca opened fire with a 9mm Browning as the Pope rode past him, ten feet away. One bullet struck the Pope in the hand and another passed through his abdomen. He survived the attack. Agca was apprehended trying to flee through the crowd, and convicted of the crime. There were claims that the Soviet KGB and its Bulgarian counterpart were behind the assassination attempt. Though prosecutors at a trial in 1986 failed to prove a link to the Bulgarian secret service, an Italian commission in 2006 concluded that leaders of the former Soviet Union were behind the assassination attempt, and that it was blamed on the Bulgarian Secret Police to divert attention from them. (3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)
106. Date: October 6, 1981
Target: President Anwar Sadat
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Details: Sadat was seated in a reviewing stand, watching a military parade. Suddenly, a truck in the procession stopped in front of the reviewing stand and militant members of the military attacked the President, using AK-47s and hand grenades. Sadat and ten others were killed, and 28 were wounded, including Vice President Mubarak. Sadat was mortally wounded within just a few seconds of the MOR, but the attack on others in the reviewing stand continued for some time. Bodyguards did not return fire for 45 seconds into the attack. One assassin was killed, and three others were wounded and captured.
107. Date: July 3, 1982
Target: Israeli Ambassador Shiomo Argov
Location: London, England
Details: Argov departed the Dorchester Hotel en route to dinner when three Abu Nidal terrorists opened fire with submachine guns, wounding him. A bodyguard returned fire, wounding a gunman, and the others were captured. (3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)
108. Date: September 3, 1982
Target: Drug Commander Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa
Location: Palermo, Sicily
Details: Chiesa and his wife were driving through town when gunmen in two cars and a motorcycle opened fire with automatic weapons, killing them both.
109. Date: September 14, 1982
Target: President Bashir Gemayel
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Details: Nine days before he was due to take office, Gemayel was killed along with twenty-five others in an explosion at the Kataeb party headquarters. His first child, Maya, had been murdered along with three bodyguards on February 23, 1980, in a car bomb explosion meant for Bashir.
110. Date: August 21, 1983
Target: Presidential Candidate Benigno Aquino
Location: Manila, Philippines
Details: Three bodyguards escorted Aquino off a China Airlines Boeing 767 as it arrived at the airport. As he reached the tarmac, gunfire broke out and Aquino was shot in the back of the head. Rolando Galman, a Filipino airport worker, was blamed for the assassination, but later investigation indicated that government agents for President Marcos actually killed him.
111. Date: February 15, 1984
Target: U.S. Diplomat Leamon Hunt
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p; Location: Rome, Italy
Details: Hunt was killed while his armored limousine was stopped at a traffic light. Two gunmen jumped out of the car behind, opened fire with automatic weapons, and fled on foot.
112. Date: April 3, 1984
Target: Justice Minister R. Lara Bonilla
Location: Bogota, Colombia
Details: Bonilla was riding in his Mercedes limousine, returning home from work. Two gunmen with the Medellin Drug Cartel, riding on a motorcycle, pulled alongside and opened fire with an Ingram .45 submachine gun. Bonilla was hit eight times and killed. The gunmen then threw a grenade at the bodyguards. Both gunmen were captured.
113. Date: October 31, 1984
Target: Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
Location: New Delhi, India
Details: Gandhi left her residence and walked across the heavily guarded path to her office. As she approached security guard Beant Singh, he pulled a .38 revolver and shot her three times in the abdomen. As she collapsed, security guard Satwant Singh opened fire with his Sten submachine gun, emptying the thirty-round magazine at her. Gandhi died on the scene. Both bodyguards were tied to Sikh terrorists. Beant was shot and killed, and Satwant was wounded eight times, but survived. In 1989, he was hanged.
114. Date: May 25, 1985
Target: Sheik Jaber (Head of State)
Location: Kuwait
Details: An Islamic Jihad suicide driver rammed his bomb-laden car into Jaber's motorcade, killing himself, two bodyguards, and a bystander. Jaber was only slightly wounded.
115. Date: June 30, 1985
Target: President Haruo Remeliik
Location: Koror, Paulau (South Pacific)
Details: Remeliik was shot three times and killed by two gunmen. He was getting out of his car in front of his home.
116. Date: August 1985
Target: Police Commander Antonio Cassara
Location: Palermo, Italy
Details: The Sicilian Mafia tapped Cassara's telephone and learned that he would go home for lunch. A dozen gunmen with AK-47s opened fire as he walked from his armored limousine to the house, killing him and his bodyguard.