A look at attacks on houses of worship over last decade
Houses of worship around the world, a place of reflection
and peace, have been targeted for attack by extremists. Here are some of the
deadly assaults over the last decade:
Oct. 31, 2010: Al-Qaeda in Iraq militants attack Our Lady of
Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad during Sunday night mass, killing 58
people in the deadliest assault targeting Christians since the 2003 US-led
invasion there. Al-Qaeda in Iraq later became the ISIS group.
Dec. 15, 2010: Two suicide bombers from the Sunni extremist
group Jundallah blow themselves up near a mosque in southeastern Iran,
including six Revolutionary Guard commanders.
July 16, 2010: Jundallah group kills 27 and injures 270
after it carries out a double suicide bombing against another Shiite mosque in
southeastern Iran.
Aug. 5, 2012: Six members of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin,
in Oak Creek, are fatally shot by a white supremacist, Wade Michael Page. Page
was shot by a responding officer and later killed himself.
Nov. 18, 2014: Two Palestinians using axes, knives and a gun
kill four Jewish worshippers and an Israeli police officer in an attack on a
Jerusalem synagogue.
Jan. 30, 2015: Suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in the
Pakistani town of Shikarpur kills 71. Jundullah claims responsibility.
March 20, 2015: ISIS suicide bombers attack a pair
of mosques in Yemen’s capital, unleashing monstrous blasts that ripped through
worshippers and killed 137 people.
June 17, 2015: Nine black worshippers including a pastor are
killed by Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, after he prayed with
them in Charleston, South Carolina. Roof was convicted of federal hate-crime
and obstruction-of-religion charges and sentenced to death.
Sept. 24, 2015: A suicide bomber strikes a mosque in Yemen’s
rebel-held capital, killing 25 worshippers during prayers for the Muslim
holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Nov. 12, 2016: Suicide bomber from ISIS group kills
over 50 at the shrine of Shah Noorani, in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province.
Dec. 11, 2016: Suicide bomber strikes inside a Cairo chapel
adjacent to St. Mark’s Cathedral, seat of Egypt’s ancient Coptic Orthodox
Church. The Islamic State group claimed the attack, which killed at least 25
people.
Feb. 16, 2017: Suicide bomber detonates his explosives vest
among the devotees at the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Pakistan’s Sindh
province, killing 98.
April 9, 2017: Twin suicide bombings rock churches in the
Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria and Tanta, killing at least 45 people. The
attack was claimed by the ISIS group.
June 15, 2017: A suicide bomber kills four people at a
Shiite mosque in Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul. Among the dead is a
leader of Afghanistan’s ethnic Hazaras, who are mostly Shiite Muslims.
Aug. 1, 2017: A suicide bomber storms into the largest
Shiite mosque in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, opening fire on
worshippers before blowing himself up, killing at least 90 people. Hundreds
more were wounded in the attack, which happened during evening prayers.
Aug. 3, 2018: Suicide bombers disguised in burqa robes
attack a Shiite mosque in eastern Afghanistan, killing 27 people.
Aug. 25, 2017: Militants storm a packed Shiite mosque in
Kabul during Friday prayers. The attack ends with at least 28 worshippers
killed and 50 wounded, many of them children. Two of the assailants blow
themselves up and another two are shot dead by Afghan security forces.
Sept. 29, 2017: A suicide bomber blows himself up outside a
Shiite mosque in Kabul, killing five. The attack took place as worshippers were
leaving the mosque after Friday prayers.
Oct. 20, 2017: The ISIS group claims a suicide
bomber attack, killing 31 and wounding 29 people, at a Shiite mosque in Kabul.
Nov. 5, 2017: Dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed
with an assault weapon, 26-year-old Devin Kelley opened fire at the First
Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people and wounding
about 20 others.
Nov. 24, 2017: Militants kill 311 worshippers in a mosque
attack in north Sinai, the deadliest such terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern
history.
Dec. 17, 2017: ISIS attack on a church in Pakistani
city of Quetta kills 16 people.
Oct. 27, 2018: A gunman believed to have spewed anti-Semitic
slurs and rhetoric on social media entered Tree of Life Congregation synagogue
in Pittsburgh and opened fire, killing 11 and wounding six, including four
police officers.
Jan. 27, 2019: Two suicide attackers detonate two bombs
during a Mass in a Roman Catholic cathedral on the largely Muslim island of
Jolo in the southern Philippines, killing 23 and wounding about 100 others.
Three days later, an attacker hurls a grenade in a mosque in nearby Zamboanga
city, killing two religious teachers.
March 15, 2019: At least 40 people are killed in an attack
at mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch.
