On this day in 1986, Irishwoman Ann-Marie Murphy was arrested at Heathrow Airport in London by El Al Airlines security as she tried to board one of their planes to Israel. In a false bottom of Murphy’s bag, the security agent found 10 pounds of plastic explosives and a calculator rigged to act as a detonator.
Author: Phil Gurski
Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. Phil is a 32-year veteran of CSE and CSIS and the author of six books on terrorism.
On this day in 1996, Ibn al-Khattab led an ambush against a convoy of Russian troops in the mountains near Yaryshmardy, Chechnya killing more than 100 troops though some put the numbers in the several hundreds.
Terrorism has been around for a long time but we have been especially captivated by it since 9/11.
On this day in 1902, the Russian Minister of the Interior, Dmitry Sergeyevich Sipyagin, was assassinated by a 20-year-old Socialist Revolutionary (read: anarchist) named Stepan Balmashov.
For a land which sees so little terrorism our media and ‘national security experts’ appear to think – and react – differently.
On this day in 2004, seven people, including at least three government employees, were executed by suspected Taliban terrorists near the Pakistan border in Afghanistan.
On this day in 2016, a bomb exploded near the Rasheed fruits and vegetables market in southern Baghdad killing one person and injuring five others. The attack was not claimed by any group in particular and the perpetrators remain unknown.
How accurate is it to real counter terrorism ops?
On this day in 1985 a bomb exploded at at El Descanso-La Casa de las Costillas, a popular restaurant in Madrid, bringing the three-story building down on about 200 diners and employees.
Our obsession with future-casting on all matters, including terrorist trends, may be understandable but that does not make it viable.