A Year of Terror: Photos of the attacks in Brussels, Nice, Orlando, Berlin and more
The attacks in Brussels, Nice, Orlando and Berlin made the biggest headlines, but terrorists claimed the lives of thousands of people across the world in 2016.
The attacks in Brussels, Nice, Orlando and Berlin made the biggest headlines in 2016, but terrorists claimed the lives of thousands of people in Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, Mali and more. In this gallery, IBTimes UK looks back at a year of terror across the globe.
January 2016: A suicide bomber killed 12 people, at least nine of them German tourists, in the Sultanahmet district, Istanbul's main sightseeing area. On the 13th a massive car bomb explosion, followed by rocket and gunfire, destroyed a police headquarters and killed five people in Cinar in Turkey's Kurdish province of Diyarbakir. Twenty-nine people were killed when gunmen attacked a restaurant and hotel in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, on 15 January. At least 20 people were killed on 22 January when al-Shabaab militants bombed a seafood restaurant overlooking a beach in Mogadishu, Somalia. Hundreds were killed in the last week of January by a wave of Boko Haram attacks across Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon.
Flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial in tribute to the victims of yesterday deadly attack on the site of the attack in the Istanbul's tourist hub of Sultanahmet on 13 January 2016Ozan Kose/AFPTurkish police search through the wreckage of a blast damaged building in Diyarbakir on 14 January 2016, after a car bomb attack blamed on Kurdish rebels ripped through a police station and an adjacent housing complex for officers and their families in southeastern TurkeyIlyas Akengin/AFPPizzas are seen on the terrace of Cappuccino restaurant after an attack on the restaurant and the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on 18 January 2016Joe Penney/ReutersPakistani rescuers shift an injured man to a hospital following an attack by gunmen in the Bacha Khan university in Charsadda, Pakistan, on 20 January 2016A Majeed/Getty ImagesA Somali soldier looks at the Lido beach from the terrace of the Lido seafood restaurant following an overnight attack on the beachfront restaurant in Mogadishu on 22 January 2016. Five of Somalia's Islamist Shebab militants detonated a bomb before storming a popular seaside restaurant in the capital Mogadishu, SomaliaMohamed Abdiwahab/ AFPA mother sits mourning the death of her husband after Boko Haram attacks at Dalori village on the outskirts of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria on 31 January 2016. Scores were killed when Boko Haram fighters armed with guns and explosives attacked a village in northeastern NigeriaAFP/Getty Images
February 2016: A suicide bomber blew himself up at the Afghan national police headquarters in Kabul on 1 February, killing at least 20 people. Ankara, the Turkish capital, was rocked on 17 February by a suicide car bomb targeting military installations that killed at least 30 people. Two suicide bombers on motorbikes killed at least 70 people in a crowded market in a mainly Shia area of Baghdad on 28 February.
Afghan girls stand at the site of suicide bomb attack outside a police station in Kabul, Afghanistan on 1 February 2016Mohammad Ismail/ReutersEmergency workers help an injured person on the ground near the site of an explosion after an attack targeted a convoy of military service vehicles in Ankara on 17 February 2016Chian/AFPIraqis inspect the damage at the site of a bombing claimed by Islamic State near a market in the Sadr City area of Baghdad, on 28 February 2016Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP
March 2016: A car bombing in the Kizilay area of Ankara on 13 March killed at least 34 people. On 22 March, three coordinated bombings took place in Brussels – two at the airport and one at a metro station. Thirty-two people were killed by perpetrators linked to the Islamic State (Isis) cell that had undertaken the Paris attacks just over four months before. On 25 March, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd at a football game near Iskandariya in Iraq, killing at least 30.
The wreckage of a bus is seen after an explosion in Ankara's central Kizilay district in Ankara, TurkeyDefne Karadeniz/ Getty ImagesA private security guard helps a wounded women outside the Maalbeek Metro station in Brussels after a blast at the station, located near the EU institutions, on 22 March 2016Michael Villa/AFPAn injured woman looks on as another speaks on her mobile phone following twin blasts at Brussels Zaventem airport, as part of co-ordinated attacks claimed by Islamic State group militants at the city's airport and in a Metro train on 22 March 2016Ketevan Kardava/AFPA man with blood stains on his sweater leaves Brussels airport in Zaventem on 22 March 2016Dirk Waem/AFPA man wrapped in a Belgian flag holds a candle as people gather at a makeshift memorial in front of Brussel's Stock Exchange on Place de la Bourse on 24 March 2016, two days after a triple bomb attack, claimed by the Islamic State group, hit Brussels' airport and Maelbeek metro stationPhilippe Huguen/AFPOnlookers and security forces gather at the site where a suicide bomber blew himself up in a village near Iskandariyah, a town about 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the capital Baghdad on 26 March 2016Haidar Hamdan/AFP
April 2016: A bus carrying army recruits was blown up by a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on 11 April. At least 60 people were killed on 19 April in a suicide car bomb attack on a government security building in Kabul. On 30 April, at least 38 people were killed by a car bomb attack that targeted Shia pilgrims in the Nahrawan area of Baghdad.
Afghan security forces investigate the site of a suicide attack on a bus carrying Afghan army recruits in Jalalabad on 11 April 2016Noorullah Shirzada/AFPAfghan security forces inspect the site of suicide car bomb attack on a government security building in KabulMohammad Ismail/ ReutersDebris lie on the ground at the site of a car bomb attack that targeted Shia pilgrims in the Nahrawan area in Baghdad on 30 April 2016Khalil al-Murshidi/AFP
May 2016: At least 33 people were killed by twin suicide car bombs in the city of Samawa, in Iraq's Shia heartland, on 1 May. More than 200 people lost their lives in a series of bombing incidents in the mainly Shia Sadr City area of Baghdad throughout the month. At least 150 were killed by a series of car bomb and suicide attacks in the Syrian cities of Jableh and Tartus on 23 May.
1 May 2016: Iraqis carry the coffin of a victim following a twin suicide bombing attack, claimed by Islamic State, in the southern Iraqi city of Samawa, situated deep in Iraq's Shia heartlandHaidar Hamdani/AFPIraqis check the site of a car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shia area north of the capital Baghdad, on 11 May 2016Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFPPeople gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite district of Sadr City, Iraq on 17 May 2016Khalid al Mousily/ReutersPeople gather at the site of multiple bombings that left at least 101 dead in the northern coastal city of Jableh, between Latakia and TartusAFP/ Getty Images
June 2016: A suicide bomb attack and gun battle on the Ambassador Hotel in Mogadishu on 1 June killed 16 people. A bomb exploded on a police bus in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul on 7 June, killing 11. On 12 June, a gunman allegedly inspired by Islamic State opened fire inside the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida, killing 49 people, in the worst terror attack on US soil since the 2001 September 11 attacks. In Britain, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, Jo Cox, was shot and stabbed by Thomas Mair, a neo-Nazi sympathiser. Istanbul's Ataturk Airport was the scene of shootings and bombings on 28 June that killed 45 people. On the 30th, at least 40 people were killed when two Taliban suicide bombers attacked a bus carrying police cadets returning from a graduation ceremony near Kabul.
Wrecked cars burn at the scene of a terror attack at the Ambassador Hotel, after a car bomb exploded at a top Mogadishu hotel that houses several MPs, killing several people, and followed by a gun battle with police on 1 June 2016Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFPGeneral view shows the scene of a suicide car bombing outside Hotel Ambassador on Maka Al Mukaram Road in Somalia's capital Mogadishu on 1 June 2016Feisal Omar/ReutersGeneral view of the lobby of a hotel that was damaged when a car bomb ripped through a police bus in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul, Turkey on 7 June 2016Ozan Kose/AFPFriends and family members embrace outside the Police Headquarters in Orlando, Florida, during the investigation of a shooting at the Pulse gay club, where 49 people were killed after a gunman opened fire, on 12 June 2016Steve Nesius/ReutersA Sister of Perpertual hugs a mourner during a vigil in Dallas, Texas for victims of the attack at Orlando's Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida on 12 June 2016. A gunman allegedly inspired by the Islamic State group opened fire inside a gay nightclub in Florida, in the worst terror attack on US soil since the 2001 September 11 attacksLaura Buckmann/AFPPeople hold banners of murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox, during a special service at Trafalgar Square in London on 22 June 2016Toby Melville/ Reuters22 June 2016: Brendan Cox, the widower of MP Jo Cox, and their two children Cuillin, 5, and Lejla, 3, prepare to join a floating commemoration on the River Thames on what would have been her 42nd birthday. The Labour MP for Batley and Spen was shot and stabbed in the street on 16 June and later diedJack Taylor/Getty Images28 June 2016: Passengers embrace outside Ataturk airport's main entrance in Istanbul, after two explosions followed by gunfire hit Turkey's largest airportOzan Kose/AFPCloves left by airport employees next to killed airport employees pictures at Ataturk airport international terminal in Istanbul, two days after the triple suicide bombing and gun attack occurred at Istanbul's Ataturk airport on 30 June 2016Ozan Kose/AFPAfghan policemen look on as the wreckage of a bus is removed from the site of a suicide bomb attack that targeted a convoy of buses transporting police cadets on the outskirts of Kabul on 30 June 2016Wakil Kohsar/AFP
At least 346 people were killed on 3 July when a large car bomb exploded in the middle of a busy market in the largely Shia and Christian Baghdad neighbourhood of Karrada. Isis claimed they killed more than 100 people in an attack on the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in the Balad area, north of Baghdad, on 8 July. A truck was driven into crowds on a promenade in Nice as people celebrated Bastille Day. The Tunisian driver, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, was shot and killed by police after killing 86 people and injuring over 400.
4 July 2016: An Iraqi woman walks past a building damaged by a suicide-bombing attack which took place a day earlier in Baghdad's Karrada neighbourhood. Hundreds of people were killed by a jihadist-claimed suicide car bombing that was among the deadliest ever attacks that the country has ever seenAhmad al-Rubaye/AFPIraqi policemen inspect the aftermath scene of a mortar and bombing attack on the Sayyid Mohammed shrine in the Balad area, north of Baghdad, on 8 July 2016Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFPPeople gather at a makeshift memorial on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on 17 July 2016, in tribute to the victims of the Bastille Day attackValery Hache/AFPA body is seen on the ground after the Bastille Day truck attack in Nice, France on 15 July, 2016Eric Gaillard/ Reuters
August 2016: A suicide bomb attack killed at least 93 people and wounded around 200 others at a hospital in Quetta in south-west Pakistan on 8 August. A suicide bomber reportedly aged 12 to 14 staged an attack at a Kurdish wedding ceremony in Gaziantep, near the Turkish-Syrian border, that killed at least 50 on 20 August.
Pakistani nurses place candles at the site during a vigil to pay tribute to victims a day after a suicide bombing at the Civil Hospital in Quetta on 9 August 2016Banaras Khan/AFPWomen cry during a funeral for victims of the attack on a wedding party that killed scores of people in Gaziantep in southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border on 21 August 2016Ilyas Akengin/AFP
September 2016: Between 17 and 19 September, two pipe bombs exploded in New York and New Jersey, and further unexploded devices were found. The perpetrator was caught after a shootout with police. Nobody was killed.
A mother and daughter embrace near the scene of an explosion in Seaside Park, New JerseyMark Makela/Getty Images
October 2016: On 5 October 2016, two police officers were stabbed by a man wielding a machete in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels. At least 60 people were killed when militants stormed a police training centre in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan, taking hundreds of hostages, on 24 October.
Police investigate the scene where a man stabbed two police officers in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood in BrusselsOlivier Matthys/APBoys light candles in memory of the cadets killed at the Balochistan Police College, in Pakistan's southwestern city of Quetta Banaras Khan/AFP
November 2016: At least 11 people were killed by a strong blast in the south-eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir on 4 November. At least 55 people were in a suicide bomb attack at the crowded Shah Noorani Shrine in the remote Pakistani region of Balochistan on 12 November. At least 30 people were killed in a massive suicide blast at a Shia mosque in Kabul on 22 November.
Rescue officials and people carry an injured man at the explosion site on 4 November 2016, after a strong blast in the southeastern Turkish city of DiyarbakirIlyas Akengin/AFPPakistani rescuers transport an injured victim to the hospital in Karachi on 12 November 2016, following a suicide bombing at a Sufi shrineRizwan Tabassum/AFPMourners attend a burial ceremony for victims of a massive suicide blast at a Shia mosque, at The Kart-e-Sakhi cemetery in Kabul on 22 November 2016Wakil Koshar/AFP
December 2016: At least 25 people were killed in an explosion near a Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo on 11 December. At least 29 people were killed and 166 injured on 14 December after a suicide bombing near the Vodafone Arena in Istanbul, home to the Besiktas football team. In scenes reminiscent of the Bastille Day attack in Nice, a truck was driven into crowds at a busy Christmas market in Berlin on 19 December, killing at least 12 people.
Egyptian security forces and officials inspect the scene of a bomb explosion at the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Coptic Orthodox Church on 11 December 2016, in Cairo's Abbasiya neighbourhoodKhaled Desouki/AFPA man lays flowers at the scene of 10 December blasts outside the Vodafone Arena football stadium on 14 December 2016 in IstanbulYasin Akgul/AFPGeneral view shows the site where a truck ploughed through a crowd at a Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz square in BerlinPawel Kopczynski/ReutersGeneral view of the truck that crashed into a christmas market on 19 December near Gedächtniskirche church in BerlinTobias Schwarz/AFP
