International Terrorist Incidents

Over the past decades the concept of terrorism has strongly entered everyday public discussions on TV, radio and internet. Statistics on violence includes now tens of incidents in a month around the world. One can define “terrorism” as a ferocious action against human beings, political and religious leaders and civilian population, as well as against property, historical values and mankind heritage. Such actions usually aim to show a protest against political regime, religious views or ethnic accessory. Unfortunately, they happen to be harmful for innocent general public in most cases.

International terrorist incidents involve victims, perpetrators or accomplishment means, originating from different countries. They can occur in any place around the globe and involve people or valuable property adhering to any nation. This essay describes the three terrorist acts, which happened in the different parts of the world and provided strong evidence that no one is completely secured against violence.

In February 1993, the World Trade Center in New York suffered an explosion, which killed six civilians and injured more than thousand people. As reported by the US Fire Administration, the explosion was caused by “a nitrourea bomb” of more than 1000 pounds and resulted in “[t]he L-shaped blast crater on B-2 at its maximum measured 130 feet wide by 150 feet long” and damaged seven levels of the building (1993, p 1). Firefighters and policemen evacuated around 50,000 people from the towers during 11 hours after the terrorism incident. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation convicted Islamic terrorists Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and Ramzi Yousef of the bombing. Besides, Al-Qaeda is also suspected to be involved into the organization of this incident.

Another significant international terrorist attack occurred in London, UK, in July 2005. Three suicide bombs exploded in the city’s underground system and one more on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2005, p 23). The total number of victims exceeded 750 civilians and 52 of them were killed. Besides, a series of similar attacks was prevented by British police and international specialists within the following two weeks after the incident. Investigation showed that three of the terrorists were British citizen s born in the United Kingdom. They lived in England, had families and children, and worked as ordinary British residents. Moreover, no obedience of the criminals to any of the international terrorist groups has been proved so far. This allows to conclude that there can also be a threat to suffer from “homegrown” terrorists’ attacks.

Nightclub bombing in Indonesia in October 2002 provided evidence that any part of the world may be involved into international terrorism. Exploration of the involved international specialists found out that a large vehicle bomb and two more possible suicide bombs blasted near a nightclub at Island of Bali causing 202 deaths, mostly Australian citizens, and more than 350 injured victims (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2005, p 5). Indonesian state authorities and the FBI linked the incident to the Jemaah Islamiya (JI) terrorist organization, which was financially supported by Al-Qaida. UN Security Council also participated in investigations by adopting Resolution 1438 which offered all states to assist Indonesia in solving the problems after the nightclub incident and bringing the criminals to justice. The Resolution also expressed the intention of the Council to struggle terrorism and to help countries to prevent and investigate attacks.

Discussed terrorist incidents are only few examples of the international terrorism, which is, probably, one of the most senseless and cruel phenomenon in the modern world. Today, most of the countries have realized the necessity to fight with terrorism and initiated a range of government programs to prevent and investigate attacks. Nevertheless, the number of terrorist incidents increases year by year involving even more countries and innocent victims. They lead to the enormous damage to people’s lives and their confidence in own security. Moreover, high risk is imposed on economic and political stability of attacked countries, which leads to losses in material terms as well. Therefore, it is highly important for every human being to understand that international terrorism is a common problem for everyone and to get into struggle with any person or organization supporting terrorist acts.