Every Year

I was thinking today that terrorism is pretty much a fact of life the world over.

Understandably people focus on 9/11 due to its sheer scale and horror. However since 2001 there have been numerous terrorist attrocities like the one in Mumbai overnight, often involving British victims:

October 2002- Bali- 202 deaths including 24 Brits

November 2003- Istanbul- a branch of HSBC Bank and the British High Commission were bombed killing 30 people including the British Consul General and a number of other Brits.

March 2004- Madrid- 190 deaths in an attrocity that arguably changed the result of the subsequent Spanish general election.
2004 also saw a dreadful upsurge in Iraqi terrorism including the kidnapping and beheading of Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan, English and Irish respectively.

July 2005- the "7/7" bombings in London resulting in 52 deaths on the underground and a London bus. A subsequent plot on 21st July 2005 failed resulting in no serious injuries.

August 2006- the plot to bring down numerous transatlantic flights between London and the USA was uncovered and stopped. A plot to bomb German trains also failed.

June 2007- failed car bombings in central London and an attack on Glasgow Airport by terrorists who also happened to be qualified doctors. Fortunately the only death was one of the perpetrators.

May 2008- a failed suicide attack on a restaurant in Exeter, a more typically English town it is hard to imagine. The perpetrator was a muslim convert called Nicky Reilly.

November 2008- Mumbai attacks targeting Indians but also singling out Brits and Americans. At least one British man has been killed.

This is but a snapshot of all the attacks accross the globe and the numerous attempts that are prevented each year.

In relation to terrorism it is more a question of "when" rather than "if".....