The following is a timeline of acts and failed attempts that can be considered terrorism. Massacres more generally are listed chronologically at List of massacres; assassinations are listed by location at List of assassinated people.
Note: there is no single accepted definition of terrorism in common use. Incidents listed here are commonly called terrorism, or meet some of the commonly used criteria.
1st Century - The Sicarii and other groups generically termed Zealots begin a covert campaign against the Roman occupation of Judea, characterized by assassinations of "collaborators".[1]
11th Century, Syria & Iran : The Hasaniyyin, followers of Hasan-i Sabbah, formed a radical group that murdered important enemies. The group is more widely known by the derogatory name of Hashshashin, i.e. partakers of Hashish. Many say that their name is the source for the word 'assassin'.[3]
March 5: PLO gunmen from Lebanon take dozens of hostages at the Tel Aviv Savoy Hotel eventually killing eight hostages and three IDF soldiers, and wounding 11 hostages.
July 31: Three members of Ireland's popular Miami Showband killed in UVF gun attack.
1976
February 3: Somali Coast Liberation Front hijack a school bus in Djibouti, killing one girl
December 14: In the Netherlands, near Beilen, a passenger train was hijacked by members of the RMS movement, passengers were kept hostage. Three passengers were killed by the hijackers.
May 23: In the Netherlands, RMS activists kept 105 children and 5 teachers hostage in a school in Smilde .
June 11: In the Netherlands, near Groningen, a passenger train was hijacked by members of the RMS, 55 passengers were kept hostage. In an army attack six hijackers and two passengers were killed.
March: In the Netherlands members of the RMS movement occupy a provincial office in Assen. 67 persons were kept hostage, one official was killed on the spot, another died of injuries a month later.
March 11: Fatah gunmen killed several tourists and hijack a bus near Haifa; 37 Israelis on the bus are killed.
July 29: Basque ETA members bomb two railway stations in Madrid, killing 7.
August 27: Lord Mountbatten and three others are killed by IRA bomb on board his boat off Mullaghmore. The same day two IRA bombs kill 18 British Soldiers near Warrenpoint.
April 30: Iranian Embassy siege Iraqi agents take over the Iranian Embassy in London, gaining hostages. After a number of days, one hostage was killed by the Iraqis, and the Special Air Service assaulted the building to rescue the remaining hostages. One hostage died during the assault.
June 22: Air India Flight 182 is blown up by a bomb put onboard the flight from Canada by Sikh nationalists. All 329 people on board are killed. The single most deadly terrorist attack prior to September 11, 2001.
Investigators associated with the WHO reported that U.S.-funded Contras repeatedly destroyed health-care facilities and murdered health-care workers in Nicaraqua.
1986
April 2: TWA Flight 840 bombed on approach to Athens airport; 4 Americans, including an infant, are killed.
December 31: New Year's Eve fire at the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, claimed 97 lives, mainly in the casino area. Fire set by 3 hotel workers, trying to make tourists stay away from Puerto Rico as a protest to their working wages.
1987
June 19: ETA Basque militant group bomb in Hipercor Mall's parking in Barcelona, kills 21, 45 injured.
June 21: ETA Basque terrorist group bombs a military truck in Madrid, kills 7, 36 injured.
July 5: the IRA detonate a 1500lb car bomb (the largest used in Northern Ireland) in the centre of Newtownards in Northern Ireland, no one is killed but massive property damage is caused to the town centre.
June 18: Six Catholic men shot dead by Loyalists in a pub in Loughinisland, Co Derry.
July 18: Bombing of Jewish Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina kills 86 and wounds 300. Attributed by the judge who tried the case, Juan José Galeano , to Hezbollah acting on behalf of Iran.
April 19: ETA Basque militant group tries to kill José María Aznar (then leader of the Popular Party, later a Spanish Prime Minister) bombing his car, kills a woman.
April 7: A suicide bomber blows himself up in Cairo's Khan al Khalili market, killing three foreign tourists and wounding 17 others. A group called "Islamic Pride Brigades " claims responsibility.
