Significant Incidents of Political Violence Against Americans 1988

INTRODUCTION
Significant Incidents of Political Violence Against
Americans: 1988, published by the Bureau of
Diplomatic Security's Threat Analysis Division
(DS/TAD), is intended to provide a comprehensive
picture of the broad spectrum of political violence
that Americans encountered abroad during 1988. In
addition to examining recorded terrorism-related
deaths, assassinations, and attempted
assassinations of Americans, this study also
includes nonlethal bombings, attempted bombings,
demonstrations, and other actions that the
Division's analysts felt were noteworthy. There is
also a section devoted to the status of Americans
being held hostage.
This chronology includes virtually all the
anti-U.S, incidents that occurred in 1988.
Unfortunately, to keep the publication at the
"Unclassified" level, a few incidents had to be
omitted due to the sensitive nature of the
information associated with them.
It remains the policy of the Bureau of
Diplomatic Security to ensure that information
concerning threats against U.S. interests {whether
government or private} is made available to the
concerned parties on an expeditious basis, while
simultaneously adhering to all procedures and U.S.
Government regulations concerning the safeguarding
of classified information.
The selection of incidents used in this study
was based on the following criteria: (a) lethality;
{b) major property damage; (c) unusual tactics or
weapons used; and {d) incidents the Department
analysts believe significant given the unique
security environments that exist in the various
world regions.
As always special thanks must go to the
Graphics Branch of the Department, which is
responsible for most of the original art work in this
publication, and to Regional Security Officers
(RSOs) at embassies worldwide who provided
DS/TAD with the necessary information and
photographs on a timely basis.
iv