History of Assassinations

1865-Apr. 14. U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth, a well-known actor with Confederate sympathies, at Ford's Theater in Washington, DC; died Apr. 15.

1881-Mar. 13. Alexander II, of Russia.-July 2. U.S. Pres. James A. Garfield shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker, in Washington, DC; died Sept. 19.

1894-June 24. Pres. Sadi Carnot of France, by Italian anarchist, Sante Caserio, in Lyon.

1898-Sept. 10. Empress Elizabeth of Austria, stabbed by Italian anarchist Luigi Luccheni.

1900-July 29. Umberto I, king of Italy.

1901-Sept. 6. U.S. Pres. William McKinley in Buffalo, NY; died Sept. 14. Leon Czolgosz executed for the crime.

1908-Feb. 1. King Carlos I of Portugal and his son Luis Felipe, in Lisbon

1913-Feb. 23. Mexican Pres. Francisco I. Madero and Vice Pres. Jose Pino Suarez.-Mar. 18. George, king of Greece.

1914-June 28. Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife in Sarajevo, Bosnia, by Gavrilo Princip.

1916-Dec. 30. Grigori Rasputin, powerful Russian monk.

1918-July 12. Grand Duke Michael of Russia, at Perm.-July 16. Nicholas II, abdicated as czar of Russia; his wife, the Czarina Alexandra; their son, Czarevitch Alexis; their daughters, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia; and 4 members of their household, executed by Bolsheviks at Ekaterinburg.

1920-May 20. Mexican Pres. Gen. Venustiano Carranza in Tlaxcalantongo.

1922-Aug. 22. Michael Collins, Irish revolutionary.-Dec. 16. Polish Pres.Gabriel Narutowicz in Warsaw.

1923-July 20. Gen. Francisco "Pancho" Villa, ex-rebel leader, in Parral, Mexico.

1928-July 17. Gen. Alvaro Obregon, president-elect of Mexico, in San Angel, Mexico.

1932-May 6. Pres. Paul Doumer of France shot by Russian émigré, Pavel Gorgulov, in Paris.

1934-July 25. In Vienna, Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss by Nazis.

1935-Sept. 8. U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long shot in Baton Rouge, LA, by Dr. Carl Austin Weiss; died Sept. 10.

1940-Aug. 20. Leon Trotsky (Lev Bronstein), 63, exiled Russian war minister, near Mexico City, by Ramon Mercador del Rio, a Spaniard.

1948-Jan. 30. Mohandas K. Gandhi, 78, shot in New Delhi, India, by Nathuram Vinayak Godse.-Sept. 17. Count Folke Bernadotte, UN mediator for Palestine, by Jewish extremists in Jerusalem.

1951-July 20. King Abdullah ibn Hussein of Jordan.-Oct. 16. Prime Min. Liaquat Ali Khan of Pakistan shot in Rawalpindi.

1956-Sept. 21. Pres. Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua, shot in Leon; died Sept. 29.

1957-July 26. Pres. Carlos Castillo Armas of Guatemala, in Guatemala City by one of his own guards.

1958-July 14. King Faisal of Iraq; his uncle, Crown Prince Abdullah; and July 15, Prem. Nuri as-Said, by rebels in Baghdad.

1959-Sept. 25. Prime Min. Solomon Bandaranaike of Ceylon, by Buddhist monk in Colombo.

1961-Jan. 17. Ex-Prem. Patrice Lumumba of the Congo, in Katanga Province.-May 30. Dominican dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina, near Ciudad Trujillo.

1963-June 12. Medgar W. Evers, NAACP's Mississippi field secretary, shot dead by Byron De La Beckwith in Jackson, MS.-Nov. 2. Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, in a military coup.-Nov. 22. U.S. Pres. John F. Kennedy shot while riding in motorcade in Dallas, TX; accused gunman Lee Harvey Oswald was murdered by Jack Ruby while awaiting trial.

1965-Jan. 21. Iranian Prem. Hassan Ali Mansour in Tehran; 4 executed.-Feb. 21. Malcolm X, black nationalist, shot in New York City.

1966-Sept. 6. Prime Min. Hendrik F. Verwoerd of South Africa stabbed to death in parliament at Cape Town.

1968-Apr. 4. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fatally shot in Memphis, TN; James Earl Ray convicted of crime.-June 5. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D, NY) shot in Los Angeles; Sirhan Sirhan, convicted of crime.

1971-Nov. 28. Prime Min. Wasfi Tal of Jordan, in Cairo, by Palestinian guerrillas.

1973-Mar. 2. U.S. Amb. Cleo A. Noel Jr., U.S. Charge d'Affaires George C. Moore, and Belgian Charge d'Affaires Guy Eid killed by Palestinian guerrillas in Khartoum, Sudan.

1974-Aug. 19. U.S. Amb. to Cyprus, Rodger P. Davies, killed by sniper's bullet in Nicosia.

1975-Feb. 11. Pres. Richard Ratsimandrava, of Madagascar, shot in Tananarive.-Mar. 25. King Faisal of Saudi Arabia shot by nephew Prince Musad Abdel Aziz, in royal palace in Riyadh.-Aug. 15. Bangladesh Pres. Sheik Mujibur Rahman killed in coup.

1976-Feb. 13. Nigerian head of state, Gen. Murtala Ramat Mohammed, by self-styled "young revolutionaries."
1977-Mar. 16. Kamal Jumblat, Lebanese Druse chieftain, shot near Beirut.-Mar. 18. Congo Pres. Marien Ngouabi shot in Brazzaville.

1978-July 9. Former Iraqi Prem. Abdul Razak Al-Naif shot in London.

1979-Feb. 14. U.S. Amb. Adolph Dubs shot by Afghan Muslim extremists in Kabul.-Aug. 27. Lord Mountbatten, World War II hero, and 2 others killed when a bomb exploded on his fishing boat off the coast of Co. Sligo, Ire. IRA claimed responsibility.-Oct. 26. South Korean Pres. Park Chung Hee and 6 bodyguards fatally shot by Kim Jae Kyu, head of South Korean CIA, and 5 aides in Seoul.

1980-Apr. 12. Liberian Pres. William R. Tolbert slain in military coup.-Sept. 17. Former Nicaraguan Pres. Anastasio Somoza Debayle shot in Paraguay.

1981-Oct. 6. Egyptian Pres. Anwar al-Sadat shot by commandos while reviewing a military parade in Cairo; 7 others killed, 28 wounded; 4 convicted as assassins and executed.

1982-Sept. 14. Lebanese Pres.-elect Bashir Gemayel killed by bomb in east Beirut.

1983-Aug. 21. Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. shot by gunman at Manila International Airport.

1984-Oct. 31. Indian Prime Min. Indira Gandhi shot and killed by 2 Sikh bodyguards, in New Delhi.

1986-Feb. 28. Swedish Prem. Olof Palme shot by gunman on Stockholm street.

1987-June 1. Lebanese Prem. Rashid Karami killed when bomb exploded aboard a helicopter.

1988-Apr. 16. PLO military chief Khalil Wazir (Abu Jihad) gunned down by Israeli commandos in Tunisia.

1989-Aug. 18. Colombian presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan killed by Medellín cartel drug traffickers at campaign rally in Bogotá.-Nov. 22. Lebanese Pres. Rene Moawad killed when bomb exploded next to his motorcade.

1990-Mar. 22. Presidential candidate Bernando Jamamillo Ossa shot by gunman at an airport in Bogotá.

1991-May 21. Rajiv Gandhi, former prime min. of India, killed by bomb during election rally in Madras.

1992-June 29. Mohammed Boudiaf, pres. of Algeria, shot by gunman in Annaba.

1993-May 1. Ranasinghe Premadasa, pres. of Sri Lanka, killed by bomb in Colombo.

1994-Mar. 23. Luis Donaldo Colosio Murrieta, Mexican presidential candidate, shot by gunman Mario Aburto Martinez. -Apr. 6. Burundian Pres. Cyprien Ntaryamira and Rwandan Pres. Juvenal Habyarimana killed, with 8 others, when their plane was apparently shot down.

1995-Nov. 4. Yitzhak Rabin, prime min. of Israel, shot by gunman Yigal Amir at peace rally in Tel Aviv.

1996-Oct. 2. Andrei Lukanov, former Bulgarian prime minister, shot outside his home by an unidentified gunman.

1998-Feb. 6. Claude Erigmac, prefect of Corsica, shot in the back while walking to a concert, by two unidentified gunmen.-Apr. 26. Guatemalan Rom. Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera, human rights champion, found beaten to death in Guatemala City; 4 persons convicted, June 8, 2001.

1999-Mar. 23. Paraguayan Vice-Pres. Luis Maria Argaña, ambushed and shot to death, along with his driver, by four unidentified assailants.-Apr. 9. Niger's Pres. Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, ambushed and killed by dissident soldiers.-Oct. 27. Armenia's Prime Min. Vazgen Sarkissian, along with 7 others, was shot to death during a session of Parliament.

2000-Jan. 15. Serbian paramilitary leader Zeljko Raznjatovic (alias Arkan), with 2 others, shot and killed by unidentified gunman in Belgrade hotel lobby; 4 suspects later charged with the killing.- June 8. Brig. Gen. Stephen Saunders, Britain's senior military representative in Greece, shot and killed by 2 men on motorcycle, while driving a car in an Athens suburb.

2001-Jan. 16. Congolese Pres. Laurent Kabila, shot to death by a bodyguard at his presidential palace in the capital, Kinshasa.-June 1. Nepal's King Birendra, Queen Aiswarya, and 7 other royals fatally shot by Crown Prince Dipendra, who also fatally wounded himself.-Sept. 9. Afghan Northern Alliance (anti-Taliban) guerrilla leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, fatally injured in suicide-attack bombing in N. Afghanistan by 2 Arabs posing as journalists; died Sept. 15.-Sept. 24. Colombian culture minister Consuelo Araujo, kidnapped, later slain, by Revolutionary Armed Forces guerrillas.-Oct. 14. Abdel Rahman Hamad, a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, shot dead by Israeli military snipers.-Oct. 17. Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, fatally shot; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility.-Dec. 23. Nigerian Justice Min. Bola Ige, shot dead at his home in Ibadan.

2002-Feb. 14. Afghanistan's aviation and tourism minister, Abdul Rahman, beaten and stabbed to death at Kabul airport.-May 6. Dutch right-wing politician Pim Fortuyn shot dead outside a radio station in Hilversum, the Netherlands; Volkert van der Graaf, an animal rights activist, later sentenced to 18 years for the murder.-July 6. Afghan Vice Pres. Haji Abdul Qadir, shot dead outside his office in Kabul.-July 23. Salah Sherhada, a founder of the armed wing of Hamas, killed along with 14 civilians in an assassination air strike on Gaza City by an Israeli fighter jet.

2003-Mar. 12. Serbian Prime Min. Zoran Djindjic, shot dead by snipers outside governement headquarters in Belgrade.-Mar. 23. Abdul Majid Dar, ex-commander of Islamic militant group in Kashmir, killed by rival separatist gunmen while in secret negotiations with Indian gov.-Apr. 10. Shiite Muslim cleric Abdul Majid al-Khoei attacked by crowd, hacked to death at Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, Iraq.-Apr. 17. Sergei Yushenkov, former Russian legislator and Liberal Party head, shot dead outside apartment in Moscow.-Aug. 29. Prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Bakir al-Hakim killed in car bombing at Imam Ali mosque in Najaf, Iraq; several foreign suspects with al-Qaeda connections arrested.-Sept. 10. Swedish Foreign Min. Anna Lindh stabbed to death in dept. store in Stockholm.

SOURCE: The World Almanac 2004