Just two seconds

by Gavin De Becker; Thomas A. Taylor; Jeff Marquart

  400. Date: April 12, 2004

  Target: Businessman Boris Goldman

  Location: Moscow, Russia

  Details: Goldman, along with his driver, was in his armored Volvo S80 limousine stopped at a traffic light. A motorcycle pulled alongside and the cyclist placed a rucksack with a powerful bomb on the roof of Goldman's car. One of Goldman's bodyguards, in a separate car, jumped out and tried to tackle the cyclist. The cyclist set off the bomb, killing everyone in the car, as well as the bodyguard and himself. Goldman escaped a previous attempt on his life in October 2003 on the same street when a mine was placed under his Toyota jeep and it exploded, badly injuring his driver. Goldman was unhurt in that incident.

  401. Date: May 9, 2004

  Target: President Akhmad Kadyrov

  Location: Grozny, Russia

  Details: As Kadyrov attended a Victory Day service, a bomb blast ripped through the VIP section where he was seated. Kadyrov was killed, along with two of his bodyguards and other high level members of his cabinet. At least 16 were killed and at least 56 were wounded. The bomb, constructed from two 152mm artillery shells, was buried in the concrete during a previous renovation of the stadium. Two more unexploded bombs, one constructed of plastic explosives, were found after the attack. Security agents had reportedly used a bomb dog to check the stadium, but the dog didn't find the devices.

  402. Date: May 17, 2004

  Target: Iraqi Governing Council President Izzadine Saleem

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Saleem was in a five-car convoy that arrived at the main entrance checkpoint for the Green Zone, the heavily protected U.S. headquarters. A red Volkswagen containing a bomb was parked at the checkpoint and exploded as Saleem's car drove past. Saleem was killed along with four others, including the bomber. Six Iraqis and two U.S. soldiers were wounded in the blast. The entrance is known as the "Assassin's Gate."

  403. Date: July 14, 2004

  Target: Governor Usama Kashmoula

  Location: Mosul, Iraq

  Details: Kashmoula was traveling in five-car motorcade when attackers in another car pulled alongside and threw a grenade at his car, then opened fire with automatic weapons. Kashmoula and two bodyguards were killed. The attackers were killed in the ensuing gun battle with Kashmoula's remaining bodyguards.

  404. Date: August 25, 2004

  Target: Intelligence Chief Tareq Abu Rajab

  Location: Gaza City, Gaza Strip

  Details: Rajab was traveling in a two-vehicle convoy when shots rang out. One of the vehicles reportedly flipped over. Rajab was seriously wounded in the chest, two bodyguards were wounded, and two of his bodyguards were killed.

  405. Date: September 2004

  Target: Presidential Candidate Viktor Yushchenko

  Location: Ukraine

  Details: Yushchenko underwent a dramatic transformation during his campaign when his face became disfigured. After months of tests, doctors determined that he had been deliberately poisoned with a dioxin. Speculation focused on Ukraine's SBU intelligence service in a botched assassination attempt. Yushchenko was ultimately elected President of Ukraine.

  406. Date: November 2, 2004

  Target: Filmmaker Theo van Gogh

  Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands

  Details: Van Gogh was murdered as he rode a bicycle to work. He was shot six times and had his throat cut by an Islamic extremist in broad daylight on a city street. Two knives were left in his body, one pinning a note which contained lines from the Koran. Van Gogh had received death threats since the release of his film, "Submission," which dealt with violence against Muslim women. Police arrested Mohammed Bouyer shortly after the attack. Eleven other Muslim men were arrested in connection with the attack and charged with conspiracy.

  407. Date: November 18, 2004

  Target: Prosecutor Danilo Anderson

  Location: Caracas, Venezuela

  Details: Anderson was driving through town when two explosions destroyed his SUV and killed him. He had been pressing charges against backers of Venezuela's failed 2002 coup.

  408. Date: November 19, 2004

  Target: Judge Sarath Ambepitiya

  Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka

  Details: Ambepitiya and his bodyguard were getting out of their car in front of his home, when a gunman opened fire, killing them both. The gunman then escaped in a van. The judge was known for handing out heavy sentences in terrorist and drug-related cases.

  409. Date: November 23, 2004

  Target: Deputy Governor Soonthorn Litpakdi

  Location: Pattani, Thailand

  Details: Litpakdi, along with the governor and other officials, was visiting the scene of an earlier shooting that injured two volunteer guards. Gunmen in the crowd opened fire, shooting Litpakdi in the back. He was taken to the hospital and treated for the wound.

  410. Date: January 4, 2005

  Target: Governor Ali al-Haidari

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Al-Haidari's three-vehicle convoy was passing through Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Hurriyah when unidentified gunmen opened fire, killing him. Al-Haidari was the target of a previous assassination attempt in 2004 that killed two of his bodyguards. As of 2006, he is the highest-ranking Iraqi official killed since the former president of the now defunct Governing Council, Abdel-Zahraa Othman, was assassinated in 2004. On November 1, 2004, al-Haidari's deputy Hatim Kamil was shot dead while on his way to work. The Ansar al-Sunnah Army militant group claimed responsibility for that attack.

  411. Date: January 27, 2005

  Target: Lawmaker Shah AMS Kibria

  Location: Habiganj, Bangladesh

  Details: Insurgents hurled grenades at Kibria as he spoke at a political rally, fatally wounding him and killing at least three others. Nearly 50 people were wounded. Kibria survived the initial attack, sustaining serious injuries in both his legs, and was rushed by ambulance to a hospital in Dhaka, where he died. It was the second fatal attack on an Awami League rally in recent months. There has been no claim of responsibility for any of the attacks.

  412. Date: February 14, 2005

  Target: Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

  Location: Beirut, Lebanon

  Details: Hariri was assassinated while driving himself in his armored Mercedes from a pre-election meeting at Parliament near Nejmeh Square to his residence at Kuraytem Palace. Hariri and 21 other people, including members of his security detail, were killed in a massive explosion when a van bomb detonated as his motorcade passed by the front of the St. George Hotel on Minae Al-Hosn Street in downtown Beirut. Evidence indicates that the attack was planned and carried out by a cabal of Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services under the direction of the highest ranking Syrian officials and their cohorts in Lebanon's corrupt political system.

  Hariri's motorcade consisted of six vehicles. The lead car, a Toyota Land Cruiser, was manned by four officers; the second, a Mercedes 500 S, was manned by three of Hariri's private security team; and the third, an armored Mercedes, was driven by Hariri, who was accompanied by an associate (Mr. Fleyhan). The fourth and fifth cars were Mercedes 500 S's, each manned by three of Mr. Hariri's private security team; they took up positions on either flank of car number three (the principal vehicle). The sixth vehicle was a Chevrolet, fully equipped as an ambulance and manned by three of Mr. Hariri's private security team, two of whom were paramedics. The second, fourth, and fifth cars were equipped with remote IED jamming devices, which were switched on and functional at the time of the attack.

  The events surrounding Hariri's murder are as follows:

  12:50pm: Hariri's motorcade departs Nejmeh Square and drives along Ahdab Streetonto Fosh Street. At the intersection of Fosh Street and Seaport Street, the motorcade turns left and takes the maritime route towards the St. George Hotel.

  12:55pm: A Mitsubishi Canter van double parks facing west directly in front of the St. George Hotel.

  12:56pm: As Hariri's motorcade travels wes
t and passes to the left of the Mitsubishi, the van (laden with 1000 kg. of TNT) explodes, instantly killing Hariri, seven of his security team, and thirteen others in the immediate vicinity (another person, trapped under rubble, dies twelve hours later).

  The detonation seemed to occur the instant after Hariri's Mercedes, flanked by two other Mercedes, passed by the van. Evidence points to a suicide bomber triggering the blast. UN investigators have found that eight to ten professionals had kept Hariri under constant surveillance for at least two months prior to his assassination. At least six of the surveillants had all three routes from Parliament to Kuraytem Palace under close scrutiny on the day of Hariri's murder. The Mitsubishi van can be seen on video taken by a CCTV security camera positioned across the street from the St. George Hotel at an HSBC Bank. The footage shows the van traveling at least six times slower than the surrounding traffic.

  413. Date: April 27, 2005

  Target: Legislator Sheikha Lameah Khaddouri al-Sakri

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Three men with pistols shot Khaddouri to death at the front gate of her home in a brazen daylight attack. It was the first assassination of a National Assembly member since the elections on January 30, 2005. She was one of 87 women in the 275-member Assembly and had survived two previous assassination attempts, one when she was fired upon as she was parking in a garage, and another when gunmen attacked her as she was driving in the capital, destroying her car. She had moved from house to house in Baghdad in an effort to head off further attacks. Friends had told her that her bodyguards were too young and that she needed better protection. In the fatal attack, she had just been dropped off by her bodyguard at the driveway that leads to her front gate. She walked through the five-foot-tall iron gate and closed it behind her. As she made her way to her front door, three pistol-wielding men got out of a sedan and knocked on the gate. One called to her by name and she might have thought it was her bodyguard. When she returned to the gate they opened fire, hitting her eight times in the face and chest. Earlier in the day she was interviewed on television, and she said, "I'm afraid they will kill me because I've been on TV." She had only recently begun using security guards paid for by her family. One neighbor reported that when asked about having better security, she had said, "God will protect me."

  414. Date: May 14, 2005

  Target: Director General Jassim Mohammed Ghani

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Gunmen assassinated Ghani in a drive-by shooting while he stood outside his home at about 9 p.m.

  415. Date: May 16, 2005

  Target: Legislator Saul Rubio Ayala

  Location: Guasave, Mexico

  Details: Ayala and his assistant were killed as they rode in their sport utility vehicle. Gunmen in two vehicles overtook the pair and opened fire with 9mm automatic pistols and large-caliber assault weapons. Both men died at the scene. Their vehicle had been hit 90 times.

  416. Date: May 22, 2005

  Target: Director General Ali Mousa Salman

  Location: Baghdad, Iraq

  Details: Gunmen killed Salman and his driver after Salman's car left his home. In the preceding months, more than a dozen senior government officials in Baghdad had been shot dead in Baghdad in well-planned attacks.

  417. Date: June 10, 2005

  Target: Lawmaker Jyrgalbek Surabaldiyev

  Location: Bishkek, Kyrgyz

  Details: Surabaldiyev was shot and killed by two unidentified assailants, as he was getting into his car in a central square where Parliament and several government agencies are located. His driver was wounded.

  418. Date: June 28, 2005

  Target: National Assembly legislator Sheik Dhari Ali al-Fayadh

  Location: Iraq

  Details: Al-Fayadh, his son, and two bodyguards were killed when a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into theirs as they traveled to Parliament from their farm in Rashidiya, 20 miles northeast of Baghdad.

  419. Date: July 5, 2005

  Target: Diplomat Hassan Malallah al-Ansari

  Location: Iraq

  Details: Bahrain's highest-ranking diplomat in Iraq was shot and slightly injured when gunmen attacked his vehicle in a Baghdad neighborhood where several embassies are located. The attack came three days after the kidnapping of Egypt's top diplomat in Iraq. Four gunmen in a pickup truck shot at al-Ansari as he drove to work in the upscale Mansour district. One bullet hit al-Ansari's right arm before the gunmen sped away. He was treated at a hospital and later released.

  420. Date: July 12, 2005

  Target: Defense Minister Elias Murr

  Location: Beirut, Lebanon

  Details: A car bomb blasted Murr's motorcade, wounding him and 12 others, and killing one person. The assassination attempt was the latest in a string of bombings that killed or wounded politicians and other prominent figures in Lebanon. Murr was driving his own car in his motorcade through the northern Naqash district -- a neighborhood of embassies and diplomatic residences -- when a vehicle packed with up to 132 pounds of explosives detonated next to it. The blast destroyed one vehicle in the motorcade and damaged several others. The attack vehicle was hurled over a stone wall into a nearby villa. Murr reportedly managed to climb out a broken window and staggered out of his damaged vehicle, bloodied. One of the wounded was the wife of the Mexican ambassador in a nearby residence. Murr later stated, "I looked at my bodyguard who was also unconscious." Murr also said he tried pulling some of his men from their car, but the doors were locked.

  421. Date: August 12, 2005

  Target: Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar

  Location: Colombo, Sri Lanka

  Details: Kadirgamar was shot in the head and died after being taken to National Hospital for emergency surgery. He had just returned from a swim and was entering his home when he was shot. There were reportedly two snipers hiding in buildings near Kadirgamar's home in the capital's diplomatic district. The previous week police had arrested two Tamil men who were taking video of the area.

  422. Date: August 16, 2005

  Target: Brother Roger Schutz (French Ecumenical Christian Leader)

  Location: Burgundy, France

  Details: A Romanian woman slipped into a choir of singing monks during an evening prayer service and fatally slit the throat of the founder of an ecumenical Christian community. Brother Roger was stabbed at least twice in the neck. Bleeding profusely, he was carried out and died 15 minutes later in the community house. The attack occurred about 8:45 p.m., some five minutes after the service got started. Some 2,500 people -- most of them young people -- were worshipping in the church when the woman surged toward Brother Roger. The mentally ill intruder, identified as Luminita Solcan, had visited the area for a week in June. She had once been asked to leave, but returned on the day of the attack and bypassed the reception area. On the night of the attack, she jumped a small hedge separating the choir from the congregation to join the monks. Many thought she might be the mother of one of the children. The attacker offered no resistance when she was grabbed. Prosecutors reported that the assailant had bought the knife the day before with the intention of killing Brother Roger. She had reportedly tried for several months to contact Brother Roger and told investigators she was trying to get his attention.

  423. Date: August 25, 2005

  Target: Prime Minister Ibrahim Malsagov

  Location: Nazran, Chechnya

  Details: As he was driving to his office after lunch, a bomb attack on Malsagov's motorcade caused a serious leg injury to Malsagov and killed his bodyguard. The bomb exploded after Malsagov's three-car motorcade had come to an abrupt halt because of a smaller explosion in front of the lead vehicle. This was the second major attack in the city that week.

  424. Date: October 18, 2005

  Target: Judge Biplab Goshwamy

  Location: Sylhet, Bangladesh

  Details: Goshwamy was getting out of his car in front of his house when a nearby bomb exploded. People chased and caught the
bomber, who had with him another live bomb.

  425. Date: October 18, 2005

  Target: Education Minister Ghulam Nabi Lone

  Location: Srinagar, India

  Details: Two militants hurled a grenade at paramilitary soldiers guarding a residential compound where lawmakers and ministers live. The militants then entered the complex, killing one paramilitary soldier and injuring four others before barging into the home of a lawmaker and firing indiscriminately. The lawmaker, Yusuf Tarigami, escaped unhurt, but a security guard was killed. The militants then scaled a wall to enter Lone's house next door and resumed firing, hitting Lone and injuring at least four other people at the minister's house. Lone died en route to a hospital. Soldiers killed one of the attackers at Lone's house. A standoff with the surviving rebel lasted nearly three hours before he escaped.

  426. Date: October 20, 2005

  Target: Deputy Police Chief Nafus Khan

  Location: Zaranj, Afghanistan

  Details: Khan's car was being parked next to a mosque when a nearby car bomb exploded, killing him and one bodyguard. Another bodyguard was injured.

  427. Date: October 26, 2005

  Target: DZI Bank Owner Emil Kyulev

  Location: Sofia, Bulgaria