1985 Kuwait City bombings
1985 Kuwait City bombings | |
---|---|
Location | Kuwait City, Kuwait |
Date | 11 July 1985 |
Attack type | Bombings |
Deaths | 11 |
Injured | 89 |
Perpetrators | Abu Nidal Organization and Islamic Jihad Organization |
On 11 July 1985, two bombs exploded in two cafés in Kuwait City, Kuwait, killing 11 people and wounding 89 others. A group affiliated with the Palestinian Abu Nidal Organization claimed responsibility for the attack,[1][2] along with the Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Jihad Organization.[3]
Attack
The first bombing took place at the Al Sharq, a seaside café, as families gathered on the eve of a Muslim holy day, and the second explosion occurred in the densely populated Salmiyeh district.[4] A third bomb was found and detonated by Kuwaiti security forces in another café.[2]
An emergency cabinet session of the Kuwaiti government was called under the Foreign Minister, Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the acting Prime Minister at the time. Authorities closed the Kuwait International Airport to outgoing flights in response "as a precaution."[4]
Several motives were considered for the attacks in the press, notably including foreign policy linked to Iran and Syria.[5] The attacks were the latest in a series of terrorist attacks in Kuwait following the 1983 Kuwait bombings thought to be linked to Iran, including the hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 221 and the attempted assassinations of newspaper editor Ahmed Al-Jarallah and Kuwaiti ruler Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.[5] The cafés were also targeted as "wounds in the heart of Islam" by the terrorists for allowing men and women to eat together.[6]
In January 1987, two men were sentenced to death for the attacks, a third to life imprisonment, and a fourth to a three-year prison term.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b Rubin, Barry; Rubin, Judith Colp (2015). Chronologies of Modern Terrorism. Routledge. p. 199. ISBN 9781317474654.
- ^ a b Stohl, Michael (2020). The Politics of Terrorism, Third Edition. CRC. p. 225. ISBN 9781000147049.
- ^ "BOMBS WRECK 2 CAFES IN KUWAIT, KILLING 9 AND WOUNDING 56". Orlando Sentinel. 12 July 1985.
- ^ a b "9 KILLED IN KUWAIT BOMBINGS". The New York Times. 12 July 1985.
- ^ a b Rabinovich, Itamar; Shaked, Haim (1988). Middle East Contemporary Survey: 1984-1985. Vol. lx. The Moshe Dayan Center. p. 405. ISBN 9780813374451.
- ^ Cooley, John K. (1991). Payback: America's Long War in the Middle East. Brassey's. p. 110. ISBN 9780080405643.
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Israel
- Misgav Am hostage crisis1 (April 7, 1980)
- Murder of Danny Katz (December 8, 1983)
- Egged bus 300 hostage crisis2 (April 12, 1984)
- Night of the Gliders1 (November 25, 1987)
- Mothers' Bus attack3 (March 7, 1988)
- Kidnapping and murder of Avi Sasportas and Ilan Saadon2 (February 16, 1989)
- Death of Binyamin Meisner2 (February 24, 1989)
- Tel Aviv–Jerusalem bus 405 suicide attack2 (July 6, 1989)
- Antwerp summer camp attack (July 28, 1980)
- Paris synagogue bombing (October 3, 1980)
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- Pan Am Flight 830 (August 11, 1982)
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- Frankfurt airport bombing (June 19, 1985)
- Madrid airline office attacks (July 1, 1985)
- Kuwait City bombings (July 11, 1985)
- Copenhagen bombings (July 22, 1985)
- Rome Café de Paris attack (September 16, 1985)
- Achille Lauro hijacking (October 7, 1985)
- Rome and Vienna airport attacks (December 27, 1985)
- Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking (September 5, 1986)
- Neve Shalom Synagogue attack (September 6, 1986)
- City of Poros ship attack (July 11, 1988)
- Nicosia Israeli Embassy bombing (May 11, 1988)
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