Just 2 Seconds (52 page)

565.
Date: March 3, 2001
Target: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Details: Shinawatra was riding in a motorcade, en route to the Bangkok International Airport to catch a Thai Airways Boeing 737-400 flight, when a bomb on the plane exploded, killing a crew- member and injuring seven, and completely destroying the plane. The bomb exploded 35 minutes before its scheduled departure. None of the 149 passengers or pilots had boarded, and the engines had not been started. The bomb was placed near where Shinawatra was assigned to sit.

566.
Date: June 17, 2001
Target: Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia
Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Details: Gunmen opened fire on Zia's motorcade, striking a van carrying the bodyguards just behind her vehicle. No one was injured.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

567.
Date: July 18, 2001
Target: Central Bank Governor Guillermo Ortiz
Location: Mexico City, Mexico
Details: Assailants fired shots outside Ortiz's home, injuring his bodyguard. Ortiz was not injured.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

568.
Date: July 29, 2001
Target: Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski
Location: Grupcin, Macedonia
Details: Gunmen ambushed Boskovski's motorcade from both sides of the road, spraying his car with gunfire. His bodyguards returned fire in a gun battle that lasted five minutes. Boskovski was not injured in the attack.
(4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)

569.
Date: November 10, 2001
Target: King Fahd
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Details: A man drove his car into King Fahd's heavily guarded motorcade, attempting to crash into Fahd's limousine. He missed, struck another vehicle, and was taken into custody. Sources later said that no weapons or explosives were found, and it did not appear to be a terrorist attack.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

570.
Date: December 13, 2001
Target: Members of Parliament
Location: New Delhi, India
Details: A car containing six gunmen sped through a gate and into a parking lot next to the Parliament Building. One militant jumped out and blew himself up with a suicide bomb. The others opened fire on police and security guards, killing an army commando and six officers. During a 90-minute gun battle, the terrorists fired hundreds of rounds, and then began throwing hand grenades, before all of the terrorists were killed. The Parliament members were evacuated, and police found and set off a remaining bomb and several hand grenades. The gunmen had driven through the Parliament gates in an Ambassador car of the kind used by government officials. A siren on the car was wailing and official stickers from Parliament and the Home Ministry were affixed to the windshield.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

571.
Date: February 1, 2002
Target: Prime Minister Hassan Abshir Farah
Location: Mogadishu, Somalia
Details: Four people were injured, two seriously, when a hand grenade was thrown into Farah's residence. Farah escaped uninjured, but two of his bodyguards were among the injured. Farah later told reporters there was a possibility the hand grenade may have been dropped accidentally by one of his bodyguards.

572.
Date: May 31, 2002
Target: Chief Administrator Farooq Abdullah
Location: Bemina, India
Details: At a building dedication ceremony, Islamic terrorists fired two grenades at Farooq. One grenade exploded in midair and the other landed in a nearby pond. No one was hurt in the attack. Abdullah is one of the most well guarded politicians in India. He travels in a armored car, his motorcade carries powerful electronic jammers to prevent a remote-controlled bomb, and elite commandos called the Black Cats guard him at all times.

573.
Date: June 8, 2002
Target: Premier Costas Simitis
Location: Athens, Greece
Details: Dimitris Aivatzidas fired shots outside a drug clinic and snatched a handgun from a guard at a police station near Simitis's residence. He then fired a shotgun at Simitis's home and was arrested after a gun battle with members of the prime minister's guard. He suffered gunshot wounds in the hand and wrist and was hospitalized. Simitis was home but not injured.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

574.
Date: June 20, 2002
Target: Deputy Mayor Iosif Ordzhonikidze
Location: Moscow, Russia
Details: Ordzhonikidze was being driven through early morning rush hour traffic. Unidentified gunmen drove past Ordzhonikidze's car, then cut him off and fired about 30 rounds through the windshield of his car before speeding away. A bodyguard got out of the car and returned fire. Ordzhonikidze was not injured, but a bodyguard and a student riding on a near-by bus were wounded. Immediately after the shooting, Ordzhonikidze's car was rammed from behind in an apparent accident. Police found the attacker's car a short distance away, completely burned with a body inside.
(3-STARS: Protector action during the attack favorably influenced safety/survival.)

575.
Date: July 14, 2002
Target: President Jacques Chirac
Location: Paris, France
Details: Chirac was riding in an open vehicle as part of France's Bastille Day military parade. Maxime Brunerie pulled a .22 caliber rifle from a guitar case and fired a shot at Chirac as he was passing by about 50 yards away. The shot missed. At least one spectator grabbed the rifle barrel and wrestled Brunerie to the ground. As he was being apprehended, Brunerie tried to shoot himself but failed. The day before the attack, Brunerie posted a message to his friends at a web site: "Watch the TV this Sunday, I will be the star." Brunerie later said he regretted not killing himself immediately afterward because he wanted to die famously.

576.
Date: August 7, 2002
Target: President Alvaro Uribe
Location: Bogota, Colombia
Details: As Uribe walked into the Parliament building to be sworn into office, three blasts exploded from mortar fire launched from a house one mile away. Two rounds went off adjacent to the palace, wounding a policeman, and killing three. Another round exploded a few blocks from the Parliament in a poor neighborhood, killing more than 20. Uribe had moved the ceremony, normally held outdoors, inside the Parliament building for security reasons. Uribe did not mention the explosions in his inaugural address. FARC rebels were blamed. Uribe has been the target of over a half dozen assassination attempts.

577.
Date: September 5, 2002
Target: President Hamid Karzai
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Details: Karzai was in the back seat of his car with Governor Gul Agha Sherzai with his window rolled partially down as they were about to leave the governor's palace. A would-be assassin, dressed in a security uniform, emerged from the crowd and fired four to eight rounds at Karzai's car with a Makarov pistol. The bullets missed Karzai, but one grazed the neck of Sherzai. A shopkeeper in the crowd wrestled the gunman to the ground and a young boy jumped in to help. Karzai's American Special Forces bodyguards returned fire, killing the gunman, and both civilians. The gunman, a member of the Taliban, had been hired seventeen days before as a security guard at the governor's mansion.
(4-STARS: Protector action during the attack entirely prevented injury.)