2000s
2000
- Al-Qaeda planned to attack 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 USS The Sullivans, al-Qaeda succeeded in bombing a U.S. Navy warship in October 2000 with the USS Cole bombing, killing 17 sailors.
2001
- On September 9, 2001, two Tunisian members of al-Qaeda assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance. One of the suicide attackers was killed by the explosion, while the other was captured and shot while trying to escape. It is believed that Osama Bin Laden ordered Massoud's assassination to help his Taliban protectors and ensure he would have their cooperation in Afghanistan. [12]
- The most destructive act ascribed to al-Qaeda was the series of attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. Four commercial jet 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. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks, making them the deadliest act of terrorism to occur in history, and more than 6,000 others were injured. 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, [13] but later in 2004 admitted his organization was responsible. The U.S., amongst other 40 countries, later invaded Afghanistan to dismantle al-Qaeda, sparking the War in Afghanistan and dismantling the Taliban as well.
- On December 22, 2001, al-Qaeda operative Richard Reid attempted to detonate explosives packed into the shoes he was wearing, while on American Airlines Flight 63 from Paris to Miami. In 2002, Reid pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to eight criminal counts of terrorism, based on his attempt to destroy a commercial aircraft in-flight. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole and is held in a super maximum security prison in the United States.
2002
- The April 11, 2002 Ghriba synagogue bombing occurred when 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. [14]
- 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.
- On October 8, 2002, two Kuwaiti citizens with ties to jihadist in Afghanistan launched the Faylaka Island attack against United States Marines. [15] [16] [17] The Marines were on a training exercise on Failaka Island, an island off the coast of Kuwait. One Marine was killed, and another was seriously injured. The two Kuwaitis, Anas Al Kandari and Jassem al-Hajiri were also killed. They were reported to have served as volunteers with the Taliban, in Afghanistan, prior to the American response to the attacks of September 11, 2001.
- The 2002 Bali bombings occurred on October 12, 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta, Indonesia. [18] The attacks killed 202 people and was attributed to the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, which has direct links to al-Qaeda. [19]
- The 2002 Mombasa attacks occurred on November 28, 2002 in Kenya. Al Qaeda later claimed responsibility for the attacks. [20]
2003
- The 2003 Riyadh compound bombings occurred on 12 May 2003, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Al-Qaeda gunmen stormed building complexes inhabited by Western expatriates, killing 39 people and wounding over 160. [21]
- 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).
- The 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing occurred on August 5, 2003, in Jakarta, Indonesia. A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the newly opened JW Marriott luxury hotel, killing twelve people and injuring 150. Those killed were mostly Indonesian, with the exception of one Dutch.
- The 2003 Istanbul bombings were four truck bomb attacks carried out on November 15, 2003, and November 20, 2003, in Istanbul, Turkey, leaving 57 people dead, and 700 wounded. The attacks targeted two synagogues, a British consulate, and a British bank in Istanbul.
2004
- Four Al-Qaeda gunmen carried out the 2004 Khobar attacks on May 29, 2004. [22]
2005
- The November 2005 Amman bombings were suicide attacks on 3 hotels in Jordan during a Palestinian wedding. 57 people were killed and another 115 were injured.
2007
- Al-Qaeda is believed to have been responsible for the failed assassination attempt on former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto on October 7, 2007. [23]
- al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb launched two car bomb attacks on December 11, 2007, which targeted Algerian Constitutional court and a UN office in Algiers.
2008
- Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan on June 2, 2008. [24] 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. [25]
- 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.
2009
- Shortly after the arrest of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the December 25, 2009, following an attempted bombing 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. [26] 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 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...". [27] That same day, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack. [28] 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" [29] 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,". [30]
- 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. [31]
