582. Date: March 1, 2003
Target: Chief Administrator Akhmad Kadyrov
Location: Argun, Chechnya
Details: Rebels attacked Kadyrov's motorcade, killing four bodyguards, three policemen, and one of the rebels. Kadyrov was uninjured. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
583. Date: April 13, 2003
Target: Mohammed Sharif (brother of the Governor)
Location: Chaman, Afghanistan
Details: Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying Sharif, killing a passenger and wounding two bodyguards. Sharif escaped unharmed. A group affiliated with al-Qaeda was blamed. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
584. Date: May 12, 2003
Target: Chief Administrator Akhmad Kadyrov
Location: Iliskhan-Yurt, Chechnya
Details: A woman with explosives strapped to her waist blew them up in the midst of thousands of Muslim pilgrims, killing herself and 13 others, including some of Kadyrov's bodyguards. Kadyrov escaped unharmed. Approximately 145 people wounded, including two of Kadyrov's bodyguards. A second female suicide bomber in the crowd was also wearing explosives, but she died from the first blast without detonating her charge. Both women posed as journalists to get close to Kadyrov. Police also found a landmine planted on the route his motorcade was expected to travel when leaving the event. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
585. Date: July 28, 2003
Target: Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh
Location: Wangjing, Manipur
Details: Rebels opened fire on Singh's motorcade as he arrived in a village. Singh was unhurt, but five others were wounded. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
586. Date: August 19, 2003
Target: President Alvaro Uribe
Location: Grenada, Colombia
Details: Suspected rebels opened fire with machine guns on Uribe's helicopter, as it came in for a landing for an official visit. His helicopter diverted to a nearby military base, while a security aircraft fired into the jungle. Uribe later returned for the event. He has survived several assassination attempts by FARC rebels. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
587. Date: August 21, 2003
Target: Governor Abdulkadir Kure
Location: Abuja-Minna, Nigeria
Details: Kure's motorcade was returning after an official visit when his convoy was attacked. His security chief was killed and his driver wounded. Kure escaped unharmed. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
588. Date: October 13, 2003
Target: Governor Abdullah Shahad al-Jaburi
Location: al-Moqdadiyah, Iraq
Details: Al-Jaburi was going to work when a roadside bomb detonated near his home. Two policemen were seriously wounded and a civilian was also injured, but the governor emerged unscathed. The policemen were in a separate car as part of the governor's convoy.
589. Date: October 26, 2003
Target: Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Iraqi insurgents drove a pickup to the hotel, where Wolfowitz and his entourage were staying. Their truck was towing what looked like a portable, two-wheeled generator. When security guards approached, the assailants drove off, but rockets within the trailer apparently had been set to fire via a timer and suddenly ignited, flashing toward the hotel, a clear shot looming just over the treetops. An American colonel was killed and 18 were wounded, but Wolfowitz was uninjured. The attackers had welded together a launcher that held both 68mm and 85mm artillery rockets. Between eight and ten struck the hotel.
590. Date: December 6, 2003
Target: U.S. Administrator Paul Bremer
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Bremer's convoy was traveling from the airport to the office when it struck an explosive device and came under small arms fire. The convoy sped away and there were no injuries. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
591. Date: December 14, 2003
Target: President Pervez Musharraf
Location: Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Details: Two remote-controlled bombs exploded, destroying a concrete bridge seconds after Musharraf's motorcade crossed it. The bombs were foiled by high tech jammers carried in Musharraf's vehicle. There were no injuries. Al-Qaeda terrorists were believed to be involved. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
592. Date: December 25, 2003
Target: President Pervez Musharraf
Location: Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Details: Two suicide bombers detonated explosives hidden in pickup trucks as Musharaff's motorcade passed two gas stations on a main road in Rawalpindi. The windshield of Musharraf's car was damaged, though he was unhurt. Sixteen were killed, including six policemen, four military personnel, and twelve civilians, and 46 were injured. Musharraf returned to Army House, the heavily fortified official residence of the army chief. The road where the attack occurred is one used nearly every day by Musharraf as he travels from his residence to his presidential offices. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
593. Date: February 12, 2004
Target: General John Abizaid
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Abizaid's motorcade came under attack as it pulled into the headquarters of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps. Several gunmen fired rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles from surrounding rooftops. U.S. forces returned fire. There were no casualties in the attack. (3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)
594. Date: March 28, 2004
Target: G.E. Engineer
Location: Mosul, Iraq
Details: Andy Bradsell and his partner, Christopher McDonald, both security contractors for the British-based Olive Security, were protecting a General Electric engineer, who was to help rebuild the city's power plant. An estimated 15 to 19 insurgents in several vehicles attacked their two-vehicle convoy, as it approached the plant in Mosul. Bradsell reportedly maneuvered his vehicle between the gunmen and the lead truck carrying the GE engineer, allowing the man and his bodyguards to escape. At the same time, McDonald, who was with Bradsell, opened fire on the insurgents. Both Bradsell and McDonald died from multiple gunshot wounds. More than 270 private security contractors have reportedly died in Iraq. (4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)
595. Date: March 31, 2004
Target: Members of Bolivian Congress
Location: La Paz, Bolivia
Details: An out-of-work miner entered the Congress building wearing a vest of dynamite. Police and security agents evacuated the area and were negotiating with him when his bomb exploded, killing the man and two security officers, and wounding several others. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
596. Date: May 27, 2004
Target: Iraqi Governing Council Member Salama al-Khafaji
Location: Yusufiyah, Iraq
Details: Al-Khakaji's three-vehicle convoy came under fire. A bodyguard was killed and another was critically wounded. Her teenaged son was in a separate vehicle, which plunged into an irrigation canal. Witnesses saw him swimming away, but he was found dead. Al-Khafaji was uninjured. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
597. Date: July 12, 2004
Target: Iraqi Olympic Team Chief Ahmed al-Samarrai
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: A roadside bomb exploded as Al-Samarrai's two-car mot
orcade drove past. Then attackers threw grenades and fired automatic weapons as the cars sped away. Al-Samarrai was unhurt, but one of his bodyguards was wounded. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
598. Date: July 13, 2004
Target: President Sergei Abramov
Location: Grozny, Chechnya
Details: Abramov's motorcade was en route to an inspection of a construction site when a roadside bomb exploded. One of his bodyguards in a follow-up vehicle was killed and three others were wounded. Abramov was uninjured. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
599. Date: July 17, 2004
Target: Justice Minister Malik Dohan al-Hassan
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: A suicide car bomber was parked near al-Hassan's home. When the bomber saw al-Hassan's five-vehicle motorcade approaching, he sped toward it. A security vehicle maneuvered into the bomber's path and the car bomb exploded as the tail end of al-Hassan's motorcade drove past, killing five of his bodyguards and destroying three vehicles. Al-Hassan was unhurt. The attack occurred at an intersection 500 yards from al-Hassan's home. (4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)
600. Date: July 30, 2004
Target: Prime Minister Designate Shaukat Aziz
Location: Fateh Jang, Pakistan
Details: Aziz was leaving a political rally and had just gotten into his armored Mercedes car with Mayor Tahir Sadiq. A suicide bomber approached the vehicle and detonated himself before the driver could close his door. The blast killed the driver and seven others, including the bomber. Aziz and Sadiq were not injured. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
601. Date: September 16, 2004
Target: President Hamid Karzai
Location: Gardez, Afghanistan
Details: A rocket was fired at the helicopter carrying Karzai as it was coming in for a landing, but the rocket missed. The helicopter aborted its landing and returned Karzai to Kabul. He was scheduled to open a school in Gardez. No one was injured.
602. Date: November 11, 2004
Target: Governor Abdel-Rahman Mostafa
Location: Kirkuk, Iraq
Details: A car bomb exploded as Mostafa's convoy went past, wounding 16 people. Mostafa escaped unharmed.
603. Date: November 14, 2004
Target: PLO Chief Mahmoud Abbas
Location: Gaza City, Gaza Strip
Details: Abbas was inside a tent to mourn the death of former PLO Chief Yasser Arafat. A group of armed militants burst into the tent and opened fire with AK-47s. Abbas's protectors hustled him away and he was not injured; two of his bodyguards were killed and four others were wounded. (4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)
604. Date: January 19, 2005
Target: President Lansana Conte
Location: Conakry, Guinea
Details: Conte escaped assassination attempt when gunmen opened fire on his convoy. He was unharmed, but a member of a security team riding a motorcycle alongside the convoy was seriously wounded. The attack occurred near a railroad crossing in a crowded suburb called Enco 5, as Conte was returning from Wawa, his home village. Bullets struck several vehicles in the convoy, but did not stop it.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
605. Date: January 21, 2005
Target: Actor Christian Slater
Location: London, England
Details: Slater was leaving a theater in London, where he had been starring in a stage version of the novel "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest", when, according to some reports, a man tried to attack him with a knife. A security guard reportedly leapt forwards to protect the actor, and was injured on the arm. Slater was not injured. (This version of events has been disputed in subsequent reports, some of which say Slater was not present during the incident at all. Because of wide reports about an incident, it remains in the Compendium, but is not counted in the STARS data.)
606. Date: April 20, 2005
Target: Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Allawi escaped unhurt when a suicide bomber in a car attacked his convoy as he headed home from a meeting on a new cabinet line-up. One policeman was killed in the blast and four were wounded. Allawi had also escaped an assassination years earlier while in exile in London. (4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)
607. Date: May 10, 2005
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Tbilisi, Georgia
Details: While Bush delivered a pro-democracy speech to a crowd of at least 150,000 people in Freedom Square, an RGD-5 fragmentation hand grenade was tossed to within 60 feet of the podium, but failed to explode. It was not discovered until later. In the hours after the incident, Georgia officials insisted the device was an inert, Soviet-era training grenade that posed no threat to Bush or his audience. The White House later acknowledged that security protocols broke down at the event when throngs of people proceeded through barricades and became part of the audience without passing through metal detectors. According to the FBI, the grenade was thrown by an unknown assailant and was wrapped in a dark-colored handkerchief and bounced off a woman's head. Vladimir Arutyunian was arrested after he killed a policeman in a shoot-out and was himself shot three times. He confessed to throwing the grenade and said he would try to kill Bush again if he got the chance. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
608. Date: July 5, 2005
Target: Diplomat Mohammed Younis Khan
Location: Mansour, Iraq
Details: The Pakistani Ambassador to Iraq escaped unharmed after gunmen attacked his vehicle in a Baghdad neighborhood where several embassies are located. Khan was heading home from work when two cars tried to sandwich his vehicle. Four to five gunmen started to shoot at the convoy, but Khan escaped without injury when his bodyguards fired back. (3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)
609. Date: July 15, 2005
Target: President Jalal Talabani
Location: Iraq
Details: A suicide car bomb exploded on a bridge overlooking Talabani's home, killing three of his guards. The attack occurred about 8 p.m. on Al-Hussein Bridge over the Tigris River. Several people were wounded, including some civilians. The Supreme Council has offices in the area, and leaders of the organization also live in the Jadriyah district. It was unclear if Talabani was in the house at the time of the explosion. Guards are posted on the bridge because it overlooks the president's house and leads to an area where several key government figures have homes.
610. Date: October 7, 2005
Target: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
Location: Sungai Padi, Thailand
Details: A homemade bomb triggered by a mobile telephone exploded about one hour after Shinawatra toured the area. The blast wounded one police officer. Muslim insurgents frequently target the area.
611. Date: October 12, 2005
Target: State Minister Saad al-Hardan
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Though Al-Hardan was not in the convoy at the time, attackers detonated a car bomb along its route as it neared the heavily fortified Green Zone. Four of al-Hardan's bodyguards were wounded.
612. Date: October 12, 2005
Target: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Details: A rocket exploded outside the residence of the Canadian ambassador, just hours before Rice arrived for talks with the country's leaders. Police said a second rocket damaged a government building. The attack wounded a guard.
613. Date: January 9, 2006
Target: U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Detail
s: Two suicide bombers carrying police identity cards walked up to an Interior Ministry checkpoint and blew themselves up hundreds of yards from a ceremony attended by Khalilza, as well as Iraq's interior and defense ministers. The blast killed at least 18 police officers and wounded 25. Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. None of the protectees was injured. The bombers, who were wearing suicide vests under plain clothes, were reportedly able to walk into an area near the ministry, which is closed to cars. The men had obtained police badges and showed them at a checkpoint at the north gate of the ministry. They were refused entry to the area and officers attempted to search them. When they attempted to run, police shot at one of the bombers, who blew himself up as they fired, wounding two police officers and killing himself. The second bomber reportedly became lost in the crowd. Several minutes later, an explosion ripped through the people who had gathered around to help. The ceremony continued without interruption about a quarter of a mile away.
614. Date: January 26, 2006
Target: Industry Minister Osama al-Najafi
Location: Balad, Iraq
Details: A roadside bomb exploded near the first car in Najafi's convoy. He escaped unharmed, but three of his bodyguards were killed. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
615. Date: February 13, 2006
Target: Former Minister Ayham al-Samarie
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: A roadside bomb exploded as al-Samarie's three-car motorcade went past. His vehicle was not hit by the blast, but another car was struck and two of his bodyguards were wounded.
616. Date: February 21, 2006
Target: Displacement and Migration Minister Suhaila Abd Jaafar
Location: Baghdad, Iraq
Details: Jaafar survived a roadside bomb attack on her convoy, but three bodyguards were injured. (2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)
617. Date: April 25, 2006
Target: Secretary of Public Safety Manuel Diaz Lerma
Location: Mexicali, Mexico
Details: Diaz was traveling with his chauffeur in an armored Suburban, followed by another Suburban (without armor) carrying three bodyguards. The bodyguards noticed several people dressed in military-type clothing carrying long weapons. Approximately 22 attackers in hoods and bullet-resistant vests were positioned along four or five blocks when they began firing at Diaz' motorcade with AK-47 and AR-15 rifles. Diaz' driver accelerated through the ambush and Diaz escaped unharmed. The follow-up vehicle was riddled with bullet holes and all three bodyguards were wounded, two critically. (4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)
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