Just 2 Seconds (38 page)

287.
Date: January 15, 1998
Target: Crime Unit Director Ruslan Gitinov
Location: Dagestan, Russia
Details: Unknown assailants opened fire on Gitinov's car as he was traveling home. A brief but fierce shoot-out between his bodyguards and the gunmen occurred. Gitinov was wounded in the shoulder and his driver received a severe head wound. It was not his first attack. A bomb had been placed along his motorcade route about six weeks before this incident, but the bomb had exploded before he reached it.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

288.
Date: May 17, 1998
Target: Mayor Sarojini Yogeswaran
Location: Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Details: Yogeswaran was killed at her home at 10.30 a.m., as two men reportedly arrived at her house and asked to speak to her. When she invited them inside, one of them shot her ten to 12 times. She was unarmed and had no bodyguards. She had entered politics after the assassination of her husband, Vettival Yogeswaran, who was killed in 1989.

289.
Date: May 28, 1998
Target: Provincial Legislator
Location: Srinagar, India
Details: A legislator, his driver, a bodyguard, and three others were injured seriously when a bomb detonated. Though their armored car was totally destroyed, the occupants all survived. Pakistani-supported Muslim militants are suspected.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

290.
Date: June 1, 1998
Target: Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi
Location: Dirnah, Libya
Details: While
en route
to Egypt for an official visit, Gaddafi's motorcade stopped on the road. Several gunmen opened fire from the surrounding mountains. Gaddafi was injured in the elbow and his top bodyguard, a woman known as Aisha, was shot dead when she shielded him. Sixteen other bodyguards were killed, and seven more were seriously wounded.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

291.
Date: June 25, 1998
Target: Town Councilor Manuel Zamarreno
Location: Bilbao, Spain
Details: Following his daily routine of walking from his home to the bakery for a loaf of bread, Zamarreno died when he walked past a remote-controlled bomb and it was detonated. The device was hidden on a motorcycle, which was parked next to his car. His bodyguard was walking ten feet behind him and was wounded by shrapnel. Zamarreno was the sixth town councilor killed by ETA terrorists in the past 12 months.

292.
Date: July 14, 1998
Target: Deputy Administrator Jose Jimenez
Location: Manila, Philippines
Details: Three men in hoods blocked Jimenez's car while he was
en route
to work. They opened fire with automatic weapons, shooting him 16 times, and wounding his driver.

293.
Date: July 23, 1998
Target: President Aslan Maskhadov
Location: Grozny, Russia
Details: A car bomb exploded as Maskhadov's motorcade passed by
en route
to his office, killing the driver and a bodyguard and wounding several others, including Maskhadov. The blast wrecked his armored Chevrolet Caprice. Maskhadov sprang from the smoking wreckage. He later stated, "To my great regret, my best bodyguard was killed." On July 29, he received a new armored Mercedes as a replacement vehicle.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

294.
Date: August 7, 1998
Target: U.S. Ambassador Prudence Bushnell
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Details: A van carrying five men drove to the entrance of the embassy's underground garage. Security guard Joash Okindo and his colleagues, armed only with short wooden clubs, confronted the men, stopping them at a barrier to the embassy's front parking lot, and forcing them to turn into the rear parking lot. The attackers then jumped from the truck and opened fire with automatic rifles. At least one Marine returned fire, and one of the attackers threw a hand grenade. Moments later, the truck exploded, killing 212 and wounding 5,400, including Bushnell. The guards kept the truck from entering the garage, where it would have caused even more death. Another 11 people were killed and 85 were injured in a simultaneous bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Tanzania. That bomb was attached to a water truck that served the embassy and was triggered by remote control, apparently without the driver's knowledge. U.S. federal prosecutors have charged 17 people in New York in the bombings. Nine suspects were still at large in 2006, including Osama bin Laden, accused of ordering the attacks.

295.
Date: September 3, 1998
Target: Mayor Yuri Timoshkov
Location: Nizhnevartovsk, Russia
Details: Timoshkov, his driver, and his bodyguard were hurt when a car bomb exploded as they drove past it. It was the second assassination attempt against him.

296.
Date: September 11, 1998
Target: Mayor Ponnuthurai Sivapalan
Location: Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Details: Separatist Tamil rebels bombed city hall, killing the mayor and 19 others. At least 20 others were wounded in the blast that destroyed much of the mayor's office, flinging sections of the roof up to 300 feet away. It came just four months after the mayor's predecessor was assassinated.

297.
Date: September 12, 1998
Target: Party Leader Azem Haidari
Location: Tirana, Albania
Details: Gunmen assassinated Haidari with automatic weapons as he emerged from his political party's headquarters. He was hit by shots fired from two cars parked next to the building, and died a short time later at the hospital. One of his two bodyguards was also killed. Nearly a year ago, he was shot and badly wounded in Parliament by a rival legislator.

298.
Date: September 15, 1998
Target: Congressman Jorge Humberto Gonzalez
Location: Medellin, Colombia
Details: Gonzalez was shot and killed by two motorcycle gunmen as he stopped his car at a traffic light. He was shot four times in the head, and died 15 minutes after being rushed to the hospital. His wife and driver were also in the car but escaped injury in the attack.

299.
Date: September 22, 1998
Target: Defense Minister Ahmet Krasniqi
Location: Tirana, Albania
Details: Krasniqi was shot and killed by gunmen while entering his home. Police found three 9mm shell casings at the scene.

300.
Date: October 25, 1998
Target: General Shaid Bargishev
Location: Grozny, Chechnya
Details: A remote-controlled bomb planted on the parking lot exploded as Bargishev was getting out of his car outside his office. The blast blew off both of his legs and he died at the hospital. Two bodyguards were injured in the blast. His unit was combating kidnappers.

301.
Date: November 22, 1998
Target: Lawmaker Galina Starovoitova
Location: St. Petersburg, Russia
Details: Starovoitova was gunned down while climbing the stairs to her apartment as she returned home.

302.
Date: March 1, 1999
Target: Senator Jean-Yvon Toussaint
Location: Delmas, Haiti
Details: Toussaint was shot and killed in front of his home by unknown gunmen.

303.
Date: March 5, 1999
Target: Governor Ayhan Cevik
Location: Ankara, Turkey
Details: A car bomb exploded as Cevik's car drove past
en route
to his office. Three people were killed, and ten were injured, including Cevik.

304.
Date: March 15, 1999
Target: Attorney Rosemary Nelson
Location: Lurgan, Northern Ireland
Details: Nelson drove away from her home when a bomb exploded, blowing both of her legs off. The bomb was apparently attached to her car while she was gone for the weekend. She had represented Catholics in several highprofile cases.

305.
Date: March 16, 1999
Target: Deputy Interior Minister Jozo Leutar
Location: Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Details: A bomb explosion wrecked Leutar's car, critically injuring him, his driver, and another passenger.

306.
Date: March 23, 1999
Target: Vice President Luis Maria Argana
Location: Asuncion, Paraguay
Details: The assassination took place about 8:50 a.m. when a car intercepted the vice president's car as he was being driven to his office. Four gunmen dressed in military camouflage uniforms and armed with an M-16 rifle, a shotgun, and hand grenades unleashed a barrage that killed Argana and his driver, and wounded two bodyguards, one critically. The assassins piled out and finished off the vice president at close range. Television footage showed a bodyguard walking in a daze at the scene, his face a mask of blood, calling for help over a hand radio. Argana slumped in the back seat of his bullet-riddled car.

307.
Date: April 9, 1999
Target: President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara
Location: Niamey, Niger
Details: As Mainassara walked across the airport tarmac to board his helicopter, members of the Presidential Guard opened fire on him with a truck-mounted machine gun, killing him. Then other soldiers joined in, firing also at presidential bodyguards who moved to rescue Mainassara. The chief bodyguard was killed when he tried to return fire. Three soldiers and one civilian were killed, and about six were wounded.

308.
Date: April 20, 1999
Target: Nationalist Leader Yuri Belyayev
Location: St. Petersburg, Russia
Details: Belyayev was getting into his Jeep Wrangler outside his home when a sniper opened fire from a rooftop with a machine pistol. The first five 9mm bullets struck Belyayev, before his two bodyguards shielded his body, and he survived. His bodyguards were struck with another 15 bullets and were killed.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)