DEADLY ATTACKS IN EUROPE SINCE 2015

10 incidents occurred over 2 years

PARIS

THE deadly bombing at a pop concert in Manchester, the United Kingdom, which killed 22 people including children was the latest attack against targets in Europe, most of them by radical Islamists.

Police said they believe Monday night’s attack, just after United States singer Ariana Grande, a favourite among teens and preteens, had ended her performance, was committed by one man. No-one has yet claimed responsibility.

Here are some of the major attacks in Europe over the past two years:

ON March 22 last year, suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group killed 32 people and injured 230 more at Brussels Airport and Maelbeek Metro Station, near the European Union (EU) headquarters. The attacks were led by an IS cell that was also responsible for the carnage here in November 2015.

Five people died on March 22, 2017, a year after the Brussels attacks, when a man rammed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London and then fatally stabbed a police officer outside Parliament. The attacker was shot dead by police.

ON Feb 14, 2015, a gunman opened fire at a cultural centre in Copenhagen, Denmark as it hosted a forum on Islam and free speech.

A filmmaker was killed. Hours later another man was shot dead at the city’s main synagogue. Police later killed the gunman, who had vowed allegiance to IS. France has been the hardest hit among EU states, with 238 deaths.

ON January 7, 2015 two brothers who had vowed allegiance to al-Qaeda gunned down 12 people at satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo here. The next day, a man linked to IS shot and killed a police officer in a suburb here. He took hostages at a supermarket just outside Paris the following day, killing four more people.

All three gunmen were killed by police.

ON Nov 13, 2015, France suffered its worst terror attack when 130 people died in a string of bombings and shootings at the Bataclan concert hall and several bars and restaurants here, and at the Stade de France stadium. IS claimed responsibility.

ON July 14 last year, a national holiday, a man rammed a truck into a crowd in Nice, killing 86 people. He was shot dead by police. IS claimed responsibility over the incident.

ON Dec 19 last year, a man hijacked a truck and ploughed into shoppers at a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany, killing 12 people. The attacker was shot dead by police in Milan, Italy, four days later, and the rampage was claimed by IS.

ON April 3, five people were killed when a bomb ripped through an underground train in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A group suspected of links to al-Qaeda claimed the attack, which was blamed on a Russian suicide bomber born in Kyrgyzstan.

ON April 7, a truck ploughed into shoppers outside a busy department store in Stockholm, killing five people including an 11year-old girl.

Police said an Uzbek suspect who was denied a residency permit last year confessed.

ON Oct 10, 2015, 103 people were killed in twin suicide bombings targeting a pro-Kurdish rally in Ankara, the bloodiest attack in Turkey’s history. Authorities blamed IS.

In the most recent atrocity, an Uzbek gunman went on the rampage inside the Reina nightclub on January 1, 2017, killing 39 people celebrating New Year, mainly Arab tourists.

The bloodshed was claimed by IS, the first clear claim it has made for an attack in Turkey. AFP