1992 bombings in Aden, Yemen - On December 29, 1992, a bomb exploded at two hotels in Aden, Yemen.[1] At 9.40 p.m., a bomb went off at the Gold Mohur hotel in Aden.[2] A United Nations force, which included American troops, had been staying there in Aden, in the Gold Mohur Hotel for a few days, while they were heading to Somalia for a humanitarian mission. The U.S. troops had already left when the bomb exploded. The bombers targeted a second hotel, the Aden Movenpick, where they believed American troops might also be staying.[3] That bomb detonated prematurely in the hotel car park, around the same time as the other bomb explosion. Victims in the attack included two Australian tourists. As well, seven others, including Yemenis, were injured. The person believed to be carrying the bomb at the Movenpick was killed, and a second person wounded.[2] Yemeni officials arrested several men after the attack, and they found weapons and explosives in their truck at the Movenpick. Al Qaeda billed the attacks as a victory, as within days of the attack, all U.S. troops left Yemen.[3]
1993 World Trade Center bombing - On February 26, 1993, Ramzi Yousef parked a rented van with of explosives in the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center. The explosion claimed six victims, and over one thousand people were wounded. The explosion created a six-story crater through the basement levels of the World Trade Center, with damage reaching up to the Marriott Hotel. Ramzi Yousef, the nephew of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had trained in Afghanistan. Yousef worked in cooperation with the blind sheikh Abdul Rahman who was living across the Hudson, in Jersey City, at the time of the attack. The FBI later turned up evidence that Osama bin Laden provided financial support to the blink sheikh Abdul Rahman.[4]
1994 Philippines Airlines bombing - November 1994, bombing of a Philippines Airlines flight from Manila to Toyko, carried out by Abu Sayyaf (the Southeast Asia affiliate of Al Qaeda), but also involving Ramzi Yousef who was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[5]
November 1995 bombing at a joint U.S.-Saudi military facility in Riyadh killed five Americans, along with two individuals from India. The four perpetrators admitted they were inspired by Osama bin Laden.
1996 Khobar Towers bombing - Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in June 1996
1997 Luxor massacre - November 1997, gunmen disguised as police opened fire on the crowd of tourists visiting the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut on the west bank in Luxor, Egypt. In all, 62 people were killed, including 36 Swiss, along with victims from Japan, Germany, the UK, and other countries.[6][7] The gunmen were associated with Zawahiri and the Islamic Group.[8]
1998 African embassy bombings - On August 7, 1998, two teams of Al Qaeda operatives drove trucks, filled with explosives, up to the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The blasts, to be simultaneous at 10:30 a.m., went off nine minutes apart. 213 people will killed in Kenya, including 12 Americans, and 11 were killed in Tanzania. But, the vast majority of the victims were Africans, including many Muslims.[9]
2000s
2000 bombing of the USS Cole - At 11:15 a.m. on October 12, 2000, a small fishing vessel approached the USS Cole which was docked in the harbor in Aden, Yemen. Explosives detonated from the fishing vessel, killing 17 aboard the USS Cole.
Doha Players Theatre - On March 19, 2005, a car bomb exploded outside the Doha Players Theatre in Qatar, killing one British citizen (Jonathan Adams, a British teacher) and injuring 15 others. The theater was located, near a British school and the United States embassy, in an area of Doha that has numerous expatriate residents.[10] Two days prior to the attack, Saleh al-Oufi, head of the "al Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula", calling on attacks against western interests in Qatar and elsewhere. Qatar has maintained good relations with the United States, has engaged diplomatically with Israel, taken steps towards democratic reform. Qatar also has shown some religious tolerance, including allowing several churches to be built, among other actions.[11] The suicide bomber was Omar Ahmed Abdullah Ali, an Egyptian residing in Qatar, who had suspected ties to the al-Qaeda Organization in the Arabian Peninsula.[12][13]