International Terrorism - Terrorism Around The World

Terrorist attacks sometimes stem from specific regional conflicts. One example of this type of conflict is in Northern Ireland, where the Irish Republican Army has launched terrorist acts against the British government and Irish Protestants in an attempt to gain independence for Northern Ireland. Another is in the Basque region of northern Spain and southern France, where the Basque separatist group Euskadi Ta Askatasuna seeks an independent Basque homeland. In addition, one of the most destructive and deadly regional conflicts is between the Palestinians and Israelis over disputed territory in the Middle East.

Chechen rebels allied with al Qaeda continue to strike inside Russia. On August 24, 2004, two Chechen female suicide bombers are believed to have brought down two Russian jetliners and killed eighty-nine people. On September 1, 2004, Chechen terrorists seized a school in Beslan, Russia, and some 1,100 parents and children were taken hostage. Although authorities negotiated with the hostage-takers, by September 4 the group had begun to kill those inside. When the terrorists exploded a bomb in the school's gymnasium and shot children in the back as they ran from the scene, Russian security forces moved in. An estimated 331 people, including 172 children, were killed in what Russian president Vladimir Putin declared "a massacre."

Although most terrorism across the globe is internal, this does not mean it is of less importance to the United States. Turmoil within even one nation can destabilize entire regions. In addition, there may be consequences to the United States from terrorist groups mainly interested in other countries. In Uzbekistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan kidnapped four U.S. citizens in August 2000 while they were mountain climbing (the four Americans later escaped). The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia kidnapped three Americans in March 1999, later executing them in Venezuela. In February 2002 the Movement of Holy Warriors in Pakistan kidnapped and beheaded American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Also, since many terrorist groups use methods that indiscriminately kill civilians, Americans visiting certain areas that harbor internal terrorist groups may be at risk from random violence. The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the Revolutionary Armed Forces and National Liberation Army of Colombia, and the Irish Republican Army in Ireland and Great Britain have all used bombings that have killed scores of people. American citizens could become unintentional victims if they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Southeast Asia is increasingly becoming of major concern to the United States because of terrorist organizations operating out of the region. Groups like the Abu Sayyaf Group in the Philippines choose methods of terrorism that include kidnapping foreign hostages to receive ransom money. An October 2002 nightclub bombing in Bali, Indonesia, by members of the Jemaah Islamiya militant Muslim network, which is linked to al Qaeda and seeks to set up an Islamic state in Southeast Asia, killed almost two hundred people, mostly foreign tourists including several Americans. More than three hundred were injured in the blast.

Also, because of the highly subjective nature of the term "terrorism," U.S. actions abroad have sometimes been called terrorist in character by other nations. Cuba is one of the most vociferous of the state and substate groups that accuse America of carrying out terrorist acts abroad. Some of the U.S. actions (mostly undertaken unilaterally) cited in support of such theories include:

• The U.S. blockade on Cuba since 1963
• Varied interventions in Latin America during the cold war, including support for the Pinochet government in Chile, the contras in Nicaragua, and various death squads in Honduras and El Salvador
• Support for the mujahideen, who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 1980s
• The invasion of Grenada in 1983
• Support of Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war
• The "accidental" shooting of an Iranian passenger airliner in 1988 that killed 290 civilians
• The 1989 invasion of Panama
• Intervention in the Middle East on behalf of Kuwait in 1991 and the ensuing bombing of Iraq
• The naval blockade of Serbia and Montenegro in 1993
• The 1994 intervention in Haiti
• A bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade that killed three Chinese citizens
• Alleged support for numerous assassinations and attempted assassinations over the years of individuals such as François Duvalier (Haiti), Patrice Lumumba (Congo), Fidel Castro (Cuba), Raúl Castro (Cuba), Ernesto Che Guevara (Cuba), Salvador Allende (Chile), Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire), Muammar Qaddafi (Libya), Ayatollah Khomeini (Iran), and Saddam Hussein (Iraq)