359. Date: July 14, 2001
Target: Town Councilor Jose Javier Mugica
Location: Leiza, Spain
Details: Mugica died when a bomb attached to the underside of his van exploded as he started the engine shortly before 10 a.m. The terrorist group ETA was blamed. Another van he owned was charred in an arson attack in August 2000, and threatening graffiti had been spray painted on his home, his shop, and the headquarters of his party.
360. Date: August 29, 2001
Target: Prosecutor Yolanda Paternina
Location: Sincelejo, Colombia
Details: A gunman on a motorcycle shot Paternina twice as she was returning home from work. She was investigating allegations of state complicity in a massacre involving paramilitary gunmen. Two of her colleagues in the investigation had disappeared in June 2001 and were feared dead.
361. Date: September 9, 2001
Target: Northern Alliance Leader Ahmad Shah Massoud
Location: Khoja-Bahaudeen, Afghanistan
Details: Two al-Qaeda terrorists, posing as Belgium reporters, were granted an interview with Massoud. Their camera contained a powerful bomb. It was the same camera they had used to interview other Northern Alliance officials over the preceding months to gain Massoud's trust. During the interview, they triggered the bomb, killing Massoud and one assassin, and wounding the other assassin and Massoud's top man. The injured assassin was machine-gunned to death as he fled the building. Massoud died in his MI-8 helicopter en route to the hospital in Dushanbe. The killing of Massoud had been engineered months in advance by Osama bin Laden, and took place two days before the 9/11 attacks in America.
362. Date: September 27, 2001
Target: Members of Swiss Parliament
Location: Zug, Switzerland
Details: During a regular meeting of Parliament, Friedrich Leibacher, wearing a stolen orange police vest, stormed into the room wildly firing his 5.6mm Sig assault rifle. He then threw a hand grenade. The force of the explosion ripped doors off before he killed himself. The attack killed 15 people including 11 lawmakers. Leibacher had a long-standing feud with transport and justice authorities. The room was packed with 80 local lawmakers, 7 government officials, and journalists. It was the worst attack on record in Switzerland.
363. Date: October 8, 2001
Target: Congressman Luis Alfredo Colmenares
Location: Bogota, Colombia
Details: Motorcycle gunmen opened fire on Colmenares as he drove his car along an avenue of upscale shops, killing him. He was the 6th lawmaker killed in Colombia in 2001.
364. Date: October 17, 2001
Target: Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Details: Zeevi was shot in the head and neck as he returned to his eighth floor room in the Hyatt Hotel after breakfast. His wife found him moments later. He had been shot with a silencer-equipped weapon. Zeevi had been the target of many threats and was entitled to a bodyguard, but had rejected protection as a matter of principle.
365. Date: November 7, 2001
Target: Judge Jose Maria Lidon Corbi
Location: Getxo, Spain
Details: Two ETA gunmen shot Corbi twice in the back of the head as he drove away from his home at 7:30 a.m. His wife and son were in the car at the time.
366. Date: January 24, 2002
Target: Former Lebanese Cabinet Minister Elie Hobeika
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Details: Hobeika and three bodyguards were killed, and six others wounded when Hobeika was getting into his sport utility vehicle at 9:40 a.m., and a nearby car bomb was detonated. A rival group claimed responsibility.
367. Date: February 28, 2002
Target: Town Councilor Esther Cabezudo
Location: Portugalete, Spain
Details: A bomb hidden in a supermarket shopping cart exploded as Cabezudo and her bodyguard walked past it. They suffered cuts and hearing loss, and three others, including a pregnant woman, were slightly wounded. The group ETA was blamed.
368. Date: May 6, 2002
Target: Prime Minister Candidate Pim Fortuyn
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Details: Van der Graaf walked up behind Fortuyn on a parking lot outside a radio station and shot him five times in the neck, head, and chest. Graaf was an animal rights activist and said he wanted to stop Fortuyn from gaining power and carrying out his anti-immigration agenda. The killing took place nine days before the election. Graaf attempted to flee on foot after the shooting, but was chased and arrested minutes later with the murder weapon in his pocket, gunpowder on his hands, and Fortuyn's DNA on his pants. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
369. Date: July 6, 2002
Target: Vice President Abdul Qadir
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Details: Qadir's vehicle had just left his office at the Ministry of Public Works when two al-Qaeda gunmen, hidden in bushes, opened fire with automatic weapons. Qadir's vehicle went out of control and struck a brick wall. Qadir and his driver were both killed, and the gunmen escaped in a car. All ten uniformed security guards who were on duty at the Ministry were arrested for not reacting to the attack properly.
370. Date: August 16, 2002
Target: Party Official Ahmad Ahman Pategi
Location: Kogi, Nigeria
Details: Pategi was en route to the capital when gunmen opened fire on his car, killing him and his bodyguard. His driver survived and later told police the gunmen had stolen Pategi's car.
371. Date: September 5, 2002
Target: Police Commander Fernando Mancilla
Location: Medellin, Colombia
Details: As Mancilla drove through the city in rush-hour traffic, he was shot to death by two gunmen on a motorcycle . The attack occurred hours before he was to be named head of Colombia's secret police. His sedan was not armored and bodyguards had not accompanied him. The gunmen escaped.
372. Date: September 6, 2002
Target: Security Council Chief Misir Ashirkulov
Location: Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Details: An unknown assailant tossed three grenades at Ashirkulov as he returned to his home. He received numerous shrapnel wounds and underwent surgery at a government hospital.
373. Date: September 11, 2002
Target: State Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Lone
Location: Lalpora, India
Details: Lone and five supporters were killed when an explosion went off and two gunmen burst out of a rice paddy firing machine guns. Lone and a police bodyguard were struck by gunfire. His bodyguards returned fire, but the gunmen escaped. Four policemen and a civilian were killed, and eight others were wounded in the battle. Two Islamic militant groups claimed credit. Lone was one of the most heavily guarded men in Kashmir.
374. Date: October 6, 2002
Target: Mayor Bertrand Delanoe
Location: Paris, France
Details: Delanoe was greeting the public as part of all-night celebrations across Paris. Azedine Berkane, who was among 2,000 or so people invited into the reception at City Hall, suddenly approached Delanoe and stabbed him once to the right of his stomach. The attacker was overpowered on the spot and taken into custody. Delanoe was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery, where he recovered. He does not use bodyguards. Berkane stated he stabbed the mayor because he didn't like homosexuals and Delanoe is openly gay. He was later judged mentally unfit to stand trial and sent to a high-security psychiatric hospital.
375. Date: October 19, 2002
Target: Governor Valentin Tsvetkov
Location: Moscow, Russia
Details: A single bullet to the head killed Tsvetkov as he walked with his wife and a deputy into his region's office during early morning rush hour. It was characterized by police as a contract killing.
376. Date: October 25, 2002
Target: Lawmaker Koki Ishii
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Details: Is
hii was stabbed to death, as he was about to get into his car in front of his home by an unidentified man with a sashimi knife. The man had been seen outside Ishii's home for about two hours before the attack. The last time a Parliament member was assassinated in Japan was in 1960 when Inejiro Asanuma was stabbed to death at a political rally by a right-wing youth.
377. Date: October 28, 2002
Target: U.S. Diplomat Laurence Foley
Location: Amman, Jordan
Details: Foley left his house in the morning to go to work and was gunned down by two al-Qaeda assassins as he walked to his car. The assassins were arrested on December 14, 2002, and confessed they had been given $18,000 of a promised $50,000 to carry out the attack, along with machine guns, a 7mm pistol with a silencer, bullet-resistant vests, hand grenades, and tear gas cylinders. They were sent to Jordan to scout for targets and picked Foley because he was an easy target.
378. Date: December 13, 2002
Target: Mayor-elect Dora Bakoyianni
Location: Athens, Greece
Details: As Bakoyianni's car arrived at her office, a former mental patient fired a shotgun at her at the same instant that she bent down to pick up her purse. The shot missed her, but wounded her driver in the neck. Flying glass from her shattered window cut Bakoyianni. The gunman was arrested near the scene.
379. Date: December 29, 2002
Target: Legislator Chaudhry Mohammed Farooq
Location: Sarai Alamgir, Pakistan
Details: Farooq was shot and killed along with his three bodyguards, while riding in his car.
380. Date: January 24, 2003
Target: Congressman Valdecir Paiva
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Details: Paiva was shot and killed while driving his car. Witnesses told police that another vehicle forced Paiva's car to stop, then four men jumped out and fired repeatedly into his car. He later died at the hospital.
381. Date: January 27, 2003
Target: Congressman Joaldo Barboza
Location: Aracaju, Brazil
Details: One or two gunmen posing as deliverymen shot and killed Barboza at the door of his home.
382. Date: February 9, 2003
Target: Politician Shawkat Haji Mushir
Location: Qamesh Tapa, Iraq
Details: Three Islamic militants linked to al-Qaeda posed as defectors wanting to negotiate with Mushir. During their meeting they turned on him, pulling AK-47s and hand grenades from under their robes. Mushir, two other party officials, and three civilians were killed. The attackers escaped.
383. Date: March 12, 2003
Target: Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic
Location: Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro
Details: A sniper shot and killed Djindjic as he got out of his armored vehicle to enter the government headquarters building. Shot once in the chest, a high-powered bullet penetrated his heart and killed him almost instantly. He was rushed to the hospital where he was treated, but pronounced dead one hour later. His bodyguard, Milan Veruovic, was also seriously wounded in the stomach by another shot. The government planned to issue warrants that day for members of the organized crime group Zemun Clan. In the weeks that followed the attack, police arrested more than 3,000 suspects in the investigation. Zvezdan Jovanovic was arrested and accused of firing the shots, using a German-made sniper rifle. The assassination was preceded by several unsuccessful attempts on his life. Most notable was an attempt several days before in which a truck driven by Dejan Milenkovic, a known member of the criminal Zemun Clan, tried to force Djindjic's car off the highway in New Belgrade. He escaped injury only due to the outstanding reaction of his driver and his security detail.
384. Date: March 24, 2003
Target: Judge Alexandre Martins de Castro Filho
Location: Vitoria, Brazil
Details: Filho was shot and killed as he arrived at a gym. Two men were waiting on a motorcycle and fired several times. Filho had received death threats and had been granted police protection. However, he left home before his bodyguards arrived.
385. Date: March 28, 2003
Target: Lawmaker Gadzhi Makhachev
Location: Makhachkala, Dagestan
Details: Makhachev was shot in the arm at 9 a.m. as he was leaving a state university building. He had received a call on his mobile phone just before the shooting and was hit as he lifted his arm. He believed the shot was aimed at his head.
386. Date: April 5, 2003
Target: Mayor Vivencio Bataga
Location: Parang, Philippines
Details: Bataga was visiting at a bus terminal when a bomb placed under a bench exploded, injuring him in the neck along with eight others.
387. Date: June 12, 2003
Target: Politician Abdur Raziq Khan
Location: Karachi, Pakistan
Details: Khan was shot and killed by two gunmen on a motorcycle, while riding in his car. His driver was wounded.
388. Date: July 16, 2003
Target: Mayor Mohammed Nayil al-Jurayfi
Location: Hadithah, Iraq
Details: Unidentified attackers opened fire on al-Jurayfi's car, while he was driving through town, killing him and his son. He was accused of cooperating with American forces.
389. Date: July 7, 2003
Target: CEO Boedyharto Angsono
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Details: Angsono was attending a sporting event at a sports stadium. Gunmen shot and killed Angsono's special forces bodyguard, and then killed Angsono with six shots in the head and back. His driver remained in their armored Mercedes and survived the attack. The gunmen escaped.
390. Date: August 19, 2003
Target: U.N. Envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: A suicide bomber detonated a cement truck packed with explosives outside Mello's U.N. Headquarters office, killing Mello and at least 20 others, and wounding 100. The bomb consisted of Soviet-era artillery shells, mortar rounds, and grenades, packed around a 500-pound aerial bomb.
391. Date: August 25, 2003
Target: Police General Juan Ramon de la Cruz Martinez
Location: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Details: Gunmen ambushed Martinez's car as it was parking in front of a residence. Martinez was wounded in the leg, and one bodyguard was killed and another wounded. Three weeks prior to this attack, gunmen ambushed a police captain and killed him. Martinez was a commander assigned to the security detail for President Hipolito Mejia.
392. Date: September 10, 2003
Target: Foreign Minister Anna Lindh
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Details: Lindh was shopping with a friend at an upscale department store. Mijailo Mijailovic approached Lindh and stabbed her ten times in the arms, chest, and stomach with a knife. Lindh underwent several hours of surgery, but died. Mijailovic fled and was later arrested, and confessed to the attack. He had a history of mental problems and three convictions, including one for the 1996 stabbing of his father, who survived. Mijailovic was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. While Lindh was the third highest official in government, she did not use bodyguards.
393. Date: September 20, 2003
Target: Governing Councilwoman Aquila al-Hashimi
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: The attack came when six men in a truck fired a rocket-propelled grenade that missed al-Hashimi's car in front of her home. The attackers then opened fire with Kalashnikov assault rifles. Al-Hashimi was wounded in the abdomen and three bodyguards were also wounded. She was rushed into surgery at al-Yarmouk hospital. After surgery, she was transferred in a convoy of American armored vehicles and military ambulances to the U.S. military hospital at Baghdad International Airport, where she died five days later. It was the first direct attack on the 25-member Governing Council.
394. Date: September 30, 2003
Target: Mayoral Candidate Jose Castillo
Location: Soledad, Colomb
ia
Details: Two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on Castillo as he left his home. His six bodyguards did not have time to return fire and the gunmen escaped. Castillo was rushed to the hospital where he died. He was the sixth mayoral candidate to be killed in the upcoming election.
395. Date: October 6, 2003
Target: Parliament Member Maulana Azam Tariq
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan
Details: Gunmen in an SUV opened fire near a tollbooth on the car Tariq was riding in. Tariq, three bodyguards, and their driver were all killed.
396. Date: October 26, 2003
Target: Deputy Mayor Faris Abdul Razaq al-Assam
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Two gunmen, believed to be Baath Party loyalists, assassinated al-Assam, one of three deputy mayors of Baghdad. U.S. officials did not announce al-Assam's death until October 28.
397. Date: November 20, 2003
Target: Consul General Roger Short
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Details: Two suicide truck bombings devastated the British HSBC Bank and the British Consulate General in Istanbul, killing Short and 26 others, and wounding at least 450. Officials blamed al-Qaeda terrorists.
398. Date: February 12, 2004
Target: Justice Minister Roger Kusch
Location: Hamburg, Germany
Details: Kusch was attending a campaign event when a woman came up behind him, unfolded a pocketknife, and stabbed him in the thigh. Bystanders grabbed the woman and turned her over to police. Kusch was treated at a hospital for a minor injury.
399. Date: March 19, 2004
Target: President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu
Location: Tainan, Taiwan
Details: Chen and Lu were riding in an open jeep during a campaign parade. People were setting off fireworks along the route to celebrate. Chen felt wetness on his stomach, and Lu felt pain in her right knee. Neither realized at first that they had been shot. There was also a bullet hole in the windshield of their vehicle. No arrests were made and both were treated at a local hospital. Police reportedly investigated 119 suspects, and named Chen Yi-hsiung as the most likely shooter. Shortly after the shooting, Chen Yi-hsiung committed suicide by drowning himself. Video footage taken before the shooting put Chen Yi-hsiung at the scene and an investigation of the weapon used traced it back to the suspect, who purchased the weapon shortly before the shooting. Papers left behind show the unemployed suspect was unhappy about the economy and the way the nation was being governed. One note reportedly stated, "I felt depressed. After Chen Shui-bian became the president, the economy turned bad and we could not sell our house." Another note said, "If Chen is reelected, I am old and cannot change anything." On videotapes, the suspect, a man in his late 50s wearing a yellow jacket, was seen walking in the street near the shooting scene. After the shooting, the suspect reportedly ran and then slowed to walk, and then walked quickly. Police interrogated Chen Yi-hsiung before he died because he bore similarities to the balding man in a yellow jacket. When the suspect was asked if he committed the attack, he reportedly replied, "I will deal with what I did." Police said the suspect likely drove his car into a river in Tainan on March 28 and his body was found on March 29.
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