List of terrorist incidents in 1979


This is a timeline of incidents in 1979 that have been labelled as "terrorism" and are not believed to have been carried out by a government or its forces.

Guidelines

  • To be included, entries must be notable and described by a consensus of reliable sources as "terrorism".
  • List entries must comply with the guidelines outlined in the manual of style under MOS:TERRORIST.
  • Casualties figures in this list are the total casualties of the incident including immediate casualties and later casualties.
  • Casualties listed are the victims. Perpetrator casualties are listed separately.
  • Casualty totals may be underestimated or unavailable due to a lack of information. A figure with a plus sign indicates that at least that many people have died – the actual toll could be considerably higher. A figure with a plus sign may also indicate that over that number of people are victims.
  • If casualty figures are 20 or more, they will be shown in bold. In addition, figures for casualties more than 50 will also be underlined.
  • Incidents are limited to one per location per day. If multiple attacks occur in the same place on the same day, they will be merged into a single incident.
  • In addition to the guidelines above, the table also includes the following categories:

List

DateTypeDeadInjuredLocationDetailsPerpetratorPart of
February 12Aircraft shootdown590Vuti African Purchase Area, RhodesiaZIPRA guerillas shot down Air Rhodesia Flight 827, a civilian flight from Kariba to Salisbury using a Strela 2 missile.ZIPRARhodesian Bush War
March 30Assassination, bombing10London, EnglandAbingdon MP Airey Neave is killed by a bomb in his car planted by the Irish National Liberation ArmyINLAThe Troubles
April 22Massacre4 0Nahariya, IsraelNahariya massacre: Four Palestinian Liberation Front militants kill four Israeli civilians, including two children.Palestinian Liberation FrontIsraeli–Palestinian conflict
May 1Bombing00Oslo, NorwayPetter Kristian Kyvik threw a bomb at a train during a May Day parade, when it passed the corner of University Street and Stortingsgaten. Erik Blücher was screened for participating, but the charges was later.Petter Kristian Kyvik
May 11Shooting5 5ColombiaM-19 militants assault the town of Belen de Los Andaquies in Caqueta. The commander of the police post, the local judge and two rebels were killed. In another attack the same day FARC militants killed at least 3 soldiers and wounded 5 others. In Cauca, a landowner and his son were executed by FARC.M-19 and FARCColombian conflict
June 3Shooting40Santander Department, ColombiaFARC guerrillas kill a councilman and three leaders of the Liberal Party in the village of Las Trochas, municipality of La Paz.FARCColombian conflict
June 16Massacre50+Aleppo, SyriaThe Aleppo Artillery School massacre was a massacre of Syrian Army cadets by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria.Muslim Brotherhood in SyriaIslamist uprising in Syria
June 20Hijacking00Chicago, United StatesSerbian nationalist Nikola Kavaja hijacks American Airlines Flight 293 with the intention of crashing it into the headquarters of the Yugoslav Communist Party, but was persuaded out of doing so by his lawyer.Nikola Kavaja
July 28Bombings7100+Madrid, SpainETA-pm carries out a series of coordinated bombings targeting Barajas Airport, Atocha station and Chamartín station.ETA-pmBasque conflict
August 27Bombing, assassination46Mullaghmore, IrelandLouis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and three others are killed by a bomb that was planted on his boat.PIRAThe Troubles
August 27Bombings, shooting197Warrenpoint, Northern IrelandThe Provisional IRA ambushes a British Army convoy, detonating two roadside bombs and firing on the soldiers after the blasts. The attack was the deadliest on the British Army during The TroublesPIRAThe Troubles
October 12Assassination1The Hague, NetherlandsAhmet Benler, the son of Özdemir Benler, the Turkish ambassador to the Netherlands, was assassinated. The responsibility for this was claimed separately by ASALA and JCAG.Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia and Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide
November 15Attempted bombing012United StatesA bomb that was planted on American Airlines Flight 444 only partially explodes and filled the passenger's cabin with smoke, injuring 12 people through smoke inhalation. Had the bomb properly detonated, it would have destroyed the plane. The attack was the catalyst for the Unabomber case, though it was not the Unabomber's first attack.Unabomber
November 20 – December 4Hostage-taking127 450+Mecca, Saudi ArabiaHundreds of militants from Wahabi group Ikhwan seized the Masjid al-Haram, Islam's holiest site, and demanded the overthrow of the House of Saud and institution of an Islamic state. The two-week siege resulted in the deaths of about 250 people and injury of hundreds more.Ikhwan
December 28Shooting, Raid0? UnknownTolima, ColombiaAn attack in the by FARC guerrillas in the boundary of the municipalities of the Victoria in Caldas and Mariquita.FARCColombian conflict