Top 10 Deadliest Terrorist Attacks in the World

There is no universal agreement on the legal definition of terrorism, although there exists a consensus academic definition created by scholars.

Various legal systems and government agencies use different definitions of terrorism, and governments have been reluctant to formulate an agreed-upon and legally binding definition. Difficulties arise from the fact that the term has become politically and emotionally charged. A simple definition proposed to the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) by terrorism studies scholar Alex P. Schmid in 1992, based on the already internationally accepted definition of war crimes, as “peacetime equivalents of war crimes”, was not accepted.

London Bombings

London Bombings

On July 7, 2005, four suicide bombers with rucksacks full of explosives attacked central London. After two weeks, on 21 July, 2005, four other bomb attacks paralyzed the functionaries of London’s public transport system. Reportedly fifty-two civilians were killed in that series of coordinated suicide attacks while more than 700 were injured.

Istanbul Explosions

Istanbul Explosions

During the infamous 2003 Istanbul bombings, four truck bomb attacks were carried out on 15 November, 2003 and 20 November, 2003, in Istanbul, Turkey. According to reports, 57 people were found dead while almost 700 were injured.

Delhi Blasts

Delhi Blasts

Three blasts ripped through the national capital just two days before Diwali on October 29, 2005, killing 67 people and injuring over 200. The terrorists had planted bombs in bags at the busy markets of Sarojini Nagar and Paharganj and a DTC bus. A total of 67 people were killed and more than 200 others were injured in the three blasts. The same year in May, twin blasts had rocked the Liberty and Satyam Cinema halls.

Norway Attacks

Norway Attacks

On July 22, 2011, eight people died in a bombing in Oslo and 69 young people died on nearby Utoya island. This was the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II.

Dubrovka Theatre Siege, Moscow

Dubrovka Theatre Siege, Moscow

On October 23, 2002, about 50 Chechen rebels storm a Moscow theater, taking up to 700 people hostage during a sold-out performance of a popular musical. After a two-and-a-half day siege, Russian forces entered the building, a struggle followed and a total of one hundred seventy people were killed.

Madrid train bombings

Madrid train bombings

On the morning of 11 March 2004 – three days before Spain’s general elections, nearly simultaneous, coordinated bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid killed 192 people and injured around 2,000.

Peshawar school attack

Peshawar school attack

In the deadliest slaughter of innocents in Pakistan in years, Taliban gunmen attacked a military-run school on December 16, 2014 and killed 141 people — almost all of them students — before government troops ended the siege.

Mumbai terror attacks

Mumbai Kasab Team Attack

Date: November 26-29, 2008

Locations targeted: Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, Leopold Café, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel, Metro Cinema, Cama and Albless Hospital and Nariman House.

Ten Pakistani men associated with the terror group Lashkar-e-Tayyiba stormed buildings in Mumbai, killing 164 people. Nine of the gunmen were killed during the attacks, one survived. Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving gunman, was executed in November 2012.

Beslan school siege

Beslan school siege

On September 1, 2004, armed Chechen rebels took approximately 1,200 children and adults hostage at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia. The siege ended on September 3, 2004 with more than 330 killed, including 186 children, and more than 700 people wounded.

World Trade Centre attack

World Trade Centre attack

On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger planes operated by two major US air carriers and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York. The attack killed 2,996 people and injured more than 6,000.