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773.
Date: July 29, 2002
Target: President Hamid Karzai
Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Details: Three would-be al-Qaeda assassins were intercepted when their station wagon, loaded with explosives, was involved in a traffic crash about 400 yards from the U.S. Embassy. The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and was pursued by security personnel until it was stopped at a checkpoint approximately 1/2 mile away. Two men were arrested and a third suspect escaped on foot. An inspection of the car revealed 1,100-1,300 pounds of TNT and C-4 explosive concealed inside the doors, and two detonating buttons mounted on the dashboard near the gear shift. The explosive was embedded with large nuts for fragmentation. Their plan was to crash the vehicle into either the office of Karzai, or the U.S. Embassy, or the International Security Assistance Force HQ.

774.
Date: September 18, 2002
Target: President Pervez Musharraf
Location: Karachi, Pakistan
Details: Two Islamic militants were arrested in a hideout near the convention center where Musharraf visited the day before. Police seized assault rifles, antitank weapons, hand grenades, and rockets. They planned to attack Musharraf at the convention center event, but were kept away by tight security.

775.
Date: October 2002
Target: Mining Magnate Joseph Gutnick
Location: St. Kilda, Australia
Details: Following police raids on suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist group, police found maps and details indicating a plan to bomb Gutnick's home and other targets, including his local synagogue, before the 9/11 attacks. The plot had been approved by senior al-Qaeda figures, including former military commander Abu Hafs, now believed dead, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is now in U.S. custody, and Saif al-Adel, believed to be in Iranian custody. It is not clear why the plot was not carried out.

776.
Date: November 2, 2002
Target: Singer Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham)
Location: London, England
Details: Five men were arrested for plotting to kidnap Beckham for a $7.7 million ransom. They reportedly planned to ambush Beckham in front of her home and use a chemical spray to sedate her and her two sons. Members of the group were charged with various crimes, including conspiracy to rob Sotheby's auction house.

777.
Date: December 15, 2002
Target: U.S. Diplomat
Location: Karachi, Pakistan
Details: Police arrested three Islamic militants and seized 250 sacks of ammonium nitrate, weighing 88 pounds each, in a plot to ram an explosives laden car into the car of a U.S. diplomat. The men were arrested during an investigation of a May 2002 suicide bombing outside a Karachi hotel that killed 14, including 11 French engineers.

778.
Date: January 29, 2003
Target: Admiral Sir Michael Boyce
Location: Naples, Italy
Details: Police raided an apartment where they arrested 28 Pakistanis in an anti-terror investigation. Police found a picture of Boyce, 800 grams explosives, 230 feet of fuse, electronic detonators, false documents, and maps. The men were believed to be an al-Qaeda cell. The photo of Boyce was in a Pakistani newspaper and was circled in ink.

779.
Date: February 11, 2003
Target: President Alvaro Uribe
Location: Neiva, Colombia
Details: A bomb that leftist rebels planned to use to kill Uribe during an announced visit exploded, killing 16 and wounding 30. FARC rebels set the bomb off as police discovered it during an advance sweep of the area. The explosives were found in a house near the airport, and police said the rebels planned to blow Uribe's plane out of the sky as it passed low overhead on final approach. The blast destroyed five houses and damaged 30 more. Uribe has survived several rebel assassination attempts.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

780.
Date: April 10, 2003
Target: President Lucio Gutierrez
Location: Quito, Ecuador
Details: Two Ecuadoreans met with nine Colombians and agreed to a $1.5 million contract to kill Gutierrez. Police and Interpol agents learned of the plot and thwarted it.

781.
Date: June 21, 2003
Target: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Location: Hebron, West Bank
Details: Israeli soldiers arrested the leader of a Hamas cell who was planning the kidnappings and assassinations of Sharon and senior officials. Police learned of the cell after arresting two drivers for suicide bombers earlier in the month.

782.
Date: July 11, 2003
Target: President Megawati Sukarnoputri
Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
Details: Police announced that they had arrested nine terror suspects between July 4 and July 11 for plotting attacks in shopping malls and churches, and plotting assassinations of top public figures. Police seized weapons from a house rented by one suspect which was about 200 yards from Sukarnoputri's private residence, raising suspicions that she was one of the targets. They raided a bomb-making factory and seized four boxes of TNT, 25 sacks of potassium chlorate, and 1,200 detonators. They also found three books containing schedules of church services, and another book with the names of Parliament members.

783.
Date: August 2, 2003
Target: Governor Haji Jan Mohammed
Location: Tareen Kot, Afghanistan
Details: Police arrested three Taliban terrorists as they planted four explosive devices on a road near Mohammed's residence.

784.
Date: August 19, 2003
Target: CEO Charles Schwab
Location: Carmel, California
Details: Packages containing bombs were found at Schwab's home and at the office of his brokerage firm at a shopping mall. A police bomb squad used a robot to detonate both devices. Schwab's firm had just announced plans to fire many workers and close 20 branch offices.

785.
Date: April 25, 2004
Target: President Hamid Karzai
Location: Kandahar, Afghanistan
Details: A man with a grenade was found hiding behind a house just minutes before Karzai's motorcade was about to pass. U.S. helicopters were providing aerial surveillance during the motorcade.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)

786.
Date: April 29, 2004
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Details: Nine Islamic extremists were arrested for plotting to bomb the NATO summit, scheduled for June 28-29. Bush was scheduled to attend along with many other world leaders. Police seized guns, explosives, bomb-making manuals, forged documents, and 4,000 compact discs featuring training instructions from Osama bin Laden.

787.
Date: June 29, 2004
Target: President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Location: Manila, Philippines
Details: Police arrested four suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah for plotting to carry out attacks to disrupt Arroyo's inauguration. Ammonium nitrate, electrical wires, and other bomb-making materials were found, as well as a manual for making bombs.

788.
Date: August 5, 2004
Target: Pakistan's Ambassador to U.S.
Location: Albany, New York
Details: Two men were charged with conspiring to launder $50,000.00 from the sale of a shoulder-fired missile in an FBI sting centered on plans to assassinate Pakistan's UN ambassador in New York.

789.
Date: August 17, 2004
Target: Prime Minister Tony Blair
Location: Trimdon, England
Details: Police arrested two Lithuanian asylum seekers with hi-tech surveillance gear less than a mile from Blair's country home. They had a car with false license plates, a highly detailed map of the area, and had filmed the roads and traffic patterns. They were deported.

790.
Date: November 22, 2004
Target: President George W. Bush
Location: Cartagena, Colombia
Details: It was announced that FARC rebel leaders asked followers to mount an attack on Bush during his four-hour visit. About 15,000 Colombian military and police, along with U.S. military and Secret Service agents, provided protection and no attack was attempted. Bush rode in an armored SUV rather than his usual armored limousine.

791.
Date: December 1, 2004
Target: Judge Bruce Petrie
Location: Danville, Kentucky
Details: Police received a tip that a man was planning to kill his ex-wife, her attorney, and Judge Petrie at a court hearing. Upon searching the man's vehicle they found an accordion file containing papers, which had been hollowed out to conceal a .45 pistol and two clips of ammunition. He was arrested on three counts of attempted murder.

792.
Date: December 3, 2004
Target: Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi
Location: Berlin, Germany
Details: German authorities arrested three Iraqis with alleged al-Qaeda links on suspicion they were planning an attack on Allawi hours before he met with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. It was unclear what kind of an attack the group might have planned -- and initial searches had not found any bomb-making materials or weapons.

793.
Date: December 19, 2004
Target: President Alvaro Uribe
Location: Cartagena, Colombia
Details: Police found a cache of explosives that rebels planned to use to assassinate Uribe. It was the second time in four days police announced they had foiled a plot to kill the president. Uribe had already survived several previous assassination attempts, including a rocket attack as he was being inaugurated in 2002, and a bomb attack as he was campaigning months earlier. Authorities said the latest attempt involved blowing up Uribe's plane. Police said they discovered 150 kilograms of explosives, documents describing Uribe's previous visits to Cartagena, and communications gear. They also discovered two homemade mortars fashioned out of gas cylinders. Two suspected FARC members were arrested in the raids. It was not immediately clear precisely how the FARC planned to attack Uribe's plane, but because the homemade mortars are notoriously inaccurate, they would have had a better chance of hitting the plane while it was on the ground rather than in flight. Four days before, police said they discovered a car bomb that the FARC intended to use against Uribe in Bogota.

794.
Date: March 13, 2005
Target: Comedian David Letterman
Location: Helena, Montana
Details: Authorities arrested a man on allegations he was plotting to kidnap Letterman's young son and nanny from Letterman's Montana home. The man was taken into custody on a felony charge of solicitation. He had been working as a painter at Letterman's ranch.

795.
Date: June 19, 2005
Target: U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad
Location: Qarghayi, Afghanistan
Details: Afghan intelligence agents scuttled a plot to assassinate Khalilzad, swooping down on a station wagon carrying three Pakistanis. The men, armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikov assault rifles, were arrested just 150 feet from where Khalilzad had planned to inaugurate a road with Afghanistan's interior minister. The agents were lying in wait after intelligence forces were tipped off about the plot in advance. Khalilzad canceled his appearance at the road opening at the last minute and was never in danger. The interior minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, also canceled his appearance. Agents surrounded the men's station wagon when it slowed to go over a speed bump. They found the weapons -- three Kalashnikov assault rifles and an RPG launcher with two shells -- hidden among some clothes.
(2-STARS: Protective Strategies or Resources at the scene favorably influenced safety/survival.)