Violence Against U.S. Diplomats

1968: John Gordon Mein, ambassador to Guatemala, assassinated in his car by rebel faction gunmen on Aug. 28, first American ambassador to be murdered while on duty.

1969: Charles Burke Elbrick, ambassador to Brazil, kidnapped Sept. 3 by Maoists and released in exchange for prisoners held by the Brazilian government.

1970: Dan Mitrione, Agency for International Development adviser in Montevideo, Uruguay, kidnapped July 31 and murdered by terrorist group Tupamaros.

1973: Cleo A. Noel, ambassador to Sudan, and other diplomats assassinated March 2 at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum by the Black September organization.

1973: Terrance Leonhardy, consul general in Guadalajara, kidnapped May 4 by members of the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces.

1974: Rodger P. Davies, ambassador to Cyprus, and his Greek Cypriot secretary murdered Aug. 19 by snipers during a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy in Nicosia.

1974: Barbara Hutchison, public affairs officer, U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, kidnapped by gunmen on Sept. 27 and held for 13 days.

1979: Adolph Dubs, ambassador to Afghanistan kidnapped by gunmen demanding release of "religious figures" and killed Feb.14 by police in rescue effort.

1979: Sixty-six American diplomats in Tehran held hostage by an Iranian mob that seized the U.S. Embassy on Nov. 4. Thirteen soon escaped Iran with the aid of the Canadian embassy, but 53 remained prisoners until their release on Jan. 20, 1981.

1979: Marine Corp. Steven J. Crowley, Army Warrant Officer Bryan Ellis, and two Pakistani employees die when student mobs attack and burn the U.S. embassy in Islamabad forcing some 140 staffers to seek refuge in a steel-encased communications room for about six hours.

1983: Sixty-three people killed and 120 injured by suicide truck bomb that hit the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, on April 18. CIA contingent nearly eliminated. Dead included CIA Middle East chief Robert C. Ames and station chief Kenneth E. Haas. On Oct. 23, a similar attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut killed more than 240 Americans.

1984: William Buckley, CIA station chief in Beirut, kidnapped March 16 and later murdered.

1985: Four Marine security guards from the U.S. embassy in El Salvador and nine Salvadoran civilians killed June 19 in a restaurant by gunmen from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front.

1988: William Higgins, Marine Corps lieutenant colonel serving with the United Nations in southern Lebanon kidnapped Feb. 17 and murdered by Iranian-backed Hezbollah group.

1990: Nine Peruvians killed and at least 30 injured when Tupac Amaru revolutionary movement exploded a bomb Jan. 15 outside the U.S. embassy in Lima, Peru.

1995: Gary C. Durrell, Karachi consulate communications technician, and Jacqueline Van Landingham, secretary, killed March 8 when gunmen ambushed their van in Karachi, Pakistan. Mail worker Mark McCloy was injured.

1995: One U.S. citizen and several foreign national employees of the U.S. government killed when the Islamic Movement of Change bombed the Saudi Arabian military compound in Riyadh, which housed a U.S. military unit.

1998: Twelve U.S. citizens, 32 Foreign Service national employees and 247 Kenyan citizens killed Aug. 7 by a vehicle bomb that struck the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Approximately 5,000 Kenyans, six U.S. citizens and 13 Foreign Service nationals were injured. Almost simultaneously seven Foreign Service nationals and three Tanzanian citizens killed and one U.S. citizen and 76 Tanzanians injured when a bomb exploded outside the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. U.S. government considered Osama bin Laden responsible.

2002: Five Indian security officers killed and 13 other persons wounded in a drive-by shooting at the U.S. consulate in Calcutta, India.

2002: Car bomb outside Karachi consulate kills 11. Group called Al-Qanoon, thought to be linked to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility. A Marine, two hired guards and five local employees were injured.

2002: Laurence Foley, executive officer, Agency for International Development, killed by gunmen Oct. 28 in Amman, Jordan, by the Honest People of Jordan.

2003: Six killed and 32 wounded in Baghdad, Iraq, Oct. 12 when two suicide car bombs exploded outside a hotel housing U.S. officials.

2003: Three American contract security guards killed and a fourth wounded by a car bomb Oct. 15 in the Gaza Strip. The convoy was carrying American diplomats to interview Palestinian Fulbright scholarship candidates.

2003: One U.S. Army officer killed and 17 people wounded Oct. 26 in attack on the Baghdad Hotel where then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz was staying. Four U.S. military personnel and seven American civilians wounded.

2004: Five local employees at the consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killed Dec. 6 after an attack by suspected al Qaeda-linked group.

2006: Administrative Officer David Foy and at least three others killed March 2 in collision with suicide bomber near to the Karachi consulate.

SOURCE: Historian Office at the State Department