List of attacks against Jews and/or Israeli targets outside Israel since 9/11
A series of devastating coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed over 170 people and wounded approximately 300 in November 2008, is the latest act of terrorism to specifically include Jews outside Israel among its targets. Casualties in these attacks have often been very high, victimizing not only Western visitors, but the local population as well. Two early examples of large-scale terror attacks targeting Jews took place in Buenos Aires, the 1992 Hezbollah bombing of the Israeli Embassy and the 1994 Hezbollah bombing of the AMIA Jewish community building. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, attacks against Jews and/or Israeli targets outside Israel include:
- Mumbai, India – November 26, 2008
A series of coordinated terror attacks in Mumbai, India, which killed over 170 people and wounded approximately 300, specifically targeted Jews and Westerners in several different buildings, including a Jewish Center. Gunmen killed six Jews in the Nariman House, the Mumbai headquarters of the ultra-Orthodox Lubavitch movement.
- Amman, Jordan – November 9, 2005
At least 57 people were killed and over 96 others injured in a series of coordinated suicide bombings at three hotels popular among Israeli and American tourists in Amman, Jordan. Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement posted on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants. In the announcement, Al Qaeda in Iraq stated that it had attacked Jordan because it is a "backyard garden for…Jews and crusaders."
- Sinai, Egypt – October 7, 2004
Thirty-four people were killed and 171 others injured when suicide bombers attacked several tourist resorts popular among Israelis in Sinai, Egypt. Prosecutors alleged that the men sentenced to death for the attack belonged to a group called Tawheed and Jihad, which renamed itself Al Qaeda in Iraq ten days after the attack.
- Tashkent, Uzbekistan – July 30, 2004
Two people were killed and nine other injured when a suicide bomber attacked the Israel and U.S. embassies in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The Islamic Jihad Group, a terrorist organization that seeks establish an Islamic government in Uzbekistan, is believed by authorities to be responsible for the attack.
- Istanbul, Turkey – November 15, 2003
Suicide car bombs exploded simultaneously at two Jewish synagogues during Sabbath services in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 25 people and injuring more than 300 others. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility of the attack in an e-mail to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds, saying that they targeted synagogues because Israeli agents were working there.
- Casablanca, Morocco – May 16, 2003
Five near-simultaneous suicide attacks against several Jewish targets in Casablanca, Morocco, including a Jewish Community Center, a Jewish cemetery, a Jewish-owned Italian restaurant and a hotel frequented by Israelis, killed 45 people and wounded more than 100 others. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the world's leading Islamic terrorists before being killed in 2006, reportedly masterminded and financed the attacks.
- Mombasa, Kenya - November 28, 2002
Thirteen people were killed and more than 40 others injured when Al Qaeda operatives launched a dual attack on Israeli tourists visiting Mombasa, Kenya. First, the attackers fired a pair of shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles, which narrowly missed an Israeli passenger jet as it took off from Mombasa's airport. Almost immediately afterward, three suicide bombers detonated a car bomb at the Paradise Lodge, an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, killing three Israeli tourists and 10 Kenyans. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack in a message posted to Web sites commonly used by Islamic militants. The message, referring to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, said the attacks were in the "same place that the Crusader-Jewish alliance was hit four years ago."
- Djerba, Tunisia – April 12, 2002
Twenty-one people were killed and over 30 others injured when a truck filled with natural gas blew up near the El Ghriba Synagogue, a historic synagogue in Djerba, Tunisia. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack in an audio tape broadcast on al-Jazeera two months later. The attack was revenge for the deaths of Palestinians, according to Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, an Al Qaeda spokesman at the time.
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