Terrorist attacks in the 2000s

A number of significant acts of international terrorism took place during the 2000s, generating a major global response

Al-Qaeda and the LeT

Throughout the 2000s, virtually every corner of the globe was impacted by acts of international terrorism. In many of these incidents, terrorists, who attacked civilian as well as military targets, killed thousands of people using a wide range of methods. Most prominent of these terrorism groups was al-Qaeda, which was responsible for the deaths of nearly three thousand people in the attacks of September 11, 2001, as well as hundreds of people around the world in separate attacks. Other groups who staged terrorist attacks during the 2000s included the ETA, Hezbollah, Chechen rebel groups, Hamas, LeT, Tamil Tigers, al-Shabaab, and the IRA.

The 2000s marked a major period for terrorist incidents. Attacks were significantly larger in scale—both in their complexity and destructiveness—than attacks of the past. Terrorists utilized modern technology, enormous organizational capabilities, and considerable financial resources to launch attacks around the world, including several against the United States and its allies. Terrorist attacks took the lives of several thousand people during the decade. These incidents prompted a global backlash, as the international community shared intelligence and resources to collectively combat terrorist groups on every continent.

Arguably the most notorious terrorist organization to launch attacks during the 2000s, al-Qaeda distinguished itself from other groups because of its global presence. Al-Qaeda is a decentralized network that has connections in virtually every part of the world. Established by Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda is also known for its grandiose methods, frequently involving multiple bombs or attacks on a single target area in order to inflict the maximum amount of damage and chaos. For the attacks of September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda took over four airliners, successfully destroying the World Trade Center in New York City and severely damaging the Pentagon building in Washington, DC. The attacks caused the deaths of nearly three thousand people and threw the US economy and the American population alike into turmoil.

Al-Qaeda was also responsible for attacks against civilian and military targets all over the world before and after the September 11 attacks. In 2000, the group successfully launched a suicide bomb attack against the USS Cole, an American warship, killing seventeen people and injuring nearly forty others.

In 2008, the Pakistani terrorist group known as LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) launched an assault on a luxury hotel in Mumbai, India, killing 166 people. It was soon learned that al-Qaeda was behind the attack, funding LeT and training the attackers. Intelligence reports after the Mumbai attack suggested that, thanks to al-Qaeda’s assistance, LeT had grown from a local terrorist group to a worldwide terrorist organization that posed a direct threat to Europe and the United States in addition to the South Asian theater.

Europe

North America experienced few foreign-based terrorist attacks (successful or otherwise) compared to Europe during the decade. London, for example, was bombed by al-Qaeda on July 7, 2005. The terrorist group attacked the city’s public transportation system, killing fifty-six people and injuring seven hundred others. The United Kingdom also dealt with attacks by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). In many ways, the IRA—which had been active for generations and showed signs that it would continue to operate well beyond the 2000s—was a far cry from the global and seemingly wanton destruction of al-Qaeda, as its efforts were focused on British rule and influence in Northern Ireland. Even so, the IRA was capable of raising enormous amounts of international money and supplies to support its cause. The IRA experienced major changes during the 2000s, splintering into several groups, the most prominent of which were the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA. The IRA was also affected by the September 11 attacks: although their cause was considerably different from al-Qaeda, and the scale of their attacks, which continued throughout the 2000s, was smaller and more localized, the IRA was placed on the same list of international terrorist organizations as al-Qaeda. As a result, its monetary support networks became at risk, since few people wanted to be caught supporting any form of international terrorism.

Another European terrorist group captured greater international attention during this period. The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA)—Basque Homeland and Liberty—has spent nearly a century fighting to separate the Basque regions of Spain from the rest of the country. The ETA was responsible for a large number of car bombs, assassinations, and other attacks during the 2000s. In 2001, the European Union stood alongside the Spanish government and labeled the ETA a terrorist organization. With the exception of a few short-lived cease-fires, the ETA retained this reputation by killing politicians and police throughout 2000s. In 2004, ten bombs were detonated simultaneously aboard commuter trains during rush hour in Madrid, killing nearly two hundred people and injuring hundreds of others. Although the act was later determined to have been committed by al-Qaeda, immediate blame was placed on the ETA. This misdirected blame underscored the international community’s psychological linking of the ETA, a local terrorist organization, to global terrorism.

In the breakaway region of Chechnya, rebels have fought with the Russians since the 1990s, with the government of the latter insisting that there would be no negotiations due to the Chechens’ involvement in terrorism. Chechen terrorists were responsible for a number of large-scale attacks on civilians during the 2000s, including taking hundreds of theater patrons hostage in Moscow in 2002, an attack which cost the lives of 130 people, and a brutal assault on a school in Beslan, Russia, in 2004. The United States offered its support to the Russian government by identifying several Chechen rebel groups as terrorists. However, the United States also criticized the heavy-handed tactics of Russian troops in Chechnya during that region’s attempts to break away from Russia. In the minds of many Chechens (and other observers), the acts of Chechen terrorists were in fact responses to equally brutal Russian actions in Chechnya.

The Middle East

For decades, the Middle East has provided some of the world’s most high-profile forms of terrorism. Groups like pro-Palestine Hamas, which in 2007 took over governance of the Gaza Strip but continued to carry out terrorist campaigns against Israel; the Palestine Liberation Front; and Syrian-backed Hezbollah continued their efforts throughout the 2000s, despite the increased international scrutiny they received following the September 11 attacks.

Keeping these groups motivated was the continued efforts of Israel to secure its borders with Lebanon and expand its settlements in disputed territories. Also fueling their actions was the United States, which after the September 11 attacks funneled money into the region for governments like Saudi Arabia to use to combat terrorism. The latter of these issues has been seen by some as misguided policy that failed to effectively target the roots of terrorism. The recipients of the money used the funds for military actions against the terrorists in their midst, emboldening these terrorists to continue their respective attacks. Iraq, for example, saw its dictator, Saddam Hussein, ousted by US military force in 2003 and replaced with a West-friendly government. Those loyal to Saddam Hussein continued to use terrorist methods, such as improvised explosive devices (IEDs), suicide bombings, and kidnappings to counter the US presence there.

South and Central Asia

Following the September 11 attacks, attentions turned to Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda leadership team were hiding. The United States forcibly removed the Taliban government and from there, engaged al-Qaeda. The Taliban was exiled but became a terrorist threat. Backed by al-Qaeda, the Taliban were responsible for a number of roadside IED and suicide bomb attacks in the cities and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and India continued their border dispute over the Kashmir and Jammu regions. This issue prompted the many different terrorist organizations in Pakistan, including the aforementioned LeT, to launch a campaign of attacks in India. These attacks were usually committed by radical Muslim Indian nationals who were trained by LeT and other groups. Al-Qaeda’s presence in the dispute was not known, but its assistance to LeT helped Pakistan’s Islamic terrorist groups to keep up their efforts in India.

In Sri Lanka, still another terrorist organization continued its activity during the 2000s. There, the minority ethnic Tamils sought independence from the Sinhala majority. Aiding in their cause were the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the “Tamil Tigers” or LTTE), which has led the world in terms of the number of suicide terrorist attacks. In 2007, an international peace accord was signed between the Sinhala government and the Tamil rebels, but the Tamil Tigers quickly broke that cease-fire by killing twenty-two sailors at a naval base and detonating a bomb in a crowded marketplace in the capital of Colombo. During the 2000s, it became clear that the Tamil Tigers were not just a local insurgency, but rather an international terror group with support coming from Tamils around the world, including in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and Western Europe.

Africa

Since the 1990s, war, poverty, and famine have nearly left Somalia in chaos, with the capitol city of Mogadishu in a state of virtual lawlessness. These lawless years have fostered international terrorism; for example, the 2002 attack on Mombasa, Kenya, was organized and launched from Somalia. In 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) threatened the newly-installed transitional government to surrender or face attack. The attacks came from ICU’s military wing, al-Shabaab. With Ethiopia’s help, the transitional government defeated the ICU, but al-Shabaab became a terrorist insurgency. Constituted of militant Muslim extremists, al-Shabaab quickly claimed to be aligned with al-Qaeda and began recruiting members from other countries to join their growing numbers. From 2006 through 2009, al-Shabaab was responsible for thirteen suicide attacks, targeting not only transitional government officials but Ethiopians and any other foreign troops, such as those of the African Union.

Impact

A large number of terrorist attacks during the 2000s were well-organized, well-financed, and highly brutal. Acts of terrorism occurred on every continent, some of which were regional in nature, while others were committed across borders (and oceans). The attacks committed by al-Qaeda were among the most high-profile incidents, underscoring the global terrorist network’s organization and penchant for destruction and chaos. Al-Qaeda’s support of and influence on many other groups, as well as the actions of groups that acted alone in their respective acts, demonstrated that terrorism remained a global threat during the 2000s.

Bibliography

Cunningham, Christopher P. “Northern Ireland and the ‘War on Terror’: Political Perceptions.” Irish Political Studies 24.3 (2009): 285–302. Print. Discusses public perceptions about different terrorist groups. Specifically describes how people connect groups like al-Qaeda to Sinn Fein and the IRA, undercutting the latter’s ability to gain favor in the public eye.

Hughes, James. “The Chechnya Conflict: Freedom Fighters or Terrorists?” Demokratizatsiya 15.3 (2007): 298–311. Print. Describes how the definition of an act of terrorism can be blurred based on the perspective of those who commit the attack. Discusses the conflict in Chechnya, the terrorist attacks of Chechen groups against civilians in Russia, and the international community’s perceptions of such attacks.

Kegley, Charles W. The New Global Terrorism: Characteristics, Causes, Controls. Upper Saddle River: Pearson, 2003. Print. Discusses the issues behind the terrorist attacks of the early 2000s, and provides information on how the destructiveness of future terrorist attacks might be prevented.

Lutz, James M., and Brenda J. Lutz. Global Terrorism. London: Routledge, 2004. Print. Provides the reader with an overview of the historical and ideological roots of global terrorism as well as the strategies employed by terrorists.

Swami, Praveen. “The Well-Tempered Jihad: The Politics and Practice of Post-2002 Islamist Terrorism in India.” Contemporary South Asia 16.3 (2008): 303–322. Print. Discusses the activity of terrorist groups in India as part of the Kashmir and Jammu dispute between India and Pakistan.