5,963 articles
Assassination of George Lincoln Rockwell
The August 25, 1967 shooting of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell by expelled member John Patler in Arlington, Virginia; rooftop sniper attack, Mauser pistol, 20-year murder conviction, and party aftermath.
Assassination of Herbert Chitepo
The assassination of Herbert Chitepo was the car-bomb killing of the ZANU chairman outside his Lusaka, Zambia home in March 1975, with responsibility still disputed.
Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh
Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas political bureau chief, killed 31 July 2024 in a Tehran guesthouse during Pezeshkian's inauguration; Israel, confirmed by Defense Minister Katz in December 2024; extensive international-law debate.
Assassination of Jang Bogo
The assassination of Jang Bogo (장보고 암살) was the 840s killing of the Silla maritime commander Jang Bogo, head of the Cheonghaejin garrison, by Yeom Jang.
Assassination of Jean-Jacques Dessalines
The assassination of Jean-Jacques Dessalines was the killing of Haiti's first head of state on 17 October 1806 at Pont Rouge, near Port-au-Prince, by conspirators from his own elite.
Assassination of Jovenel Moïse
Assassination of Jovenel Moïse: the 7 July 2021 killing of Haiti's president at his Pétion-Ville home by Colombian ex-soldiers and accomplices in a South Florida-planned plot; US convictions and Haiti's post-assassination crisis.
Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira
Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira: 6 April 1994 rocket downing of the Rwandan presidential Falcon 50 near Kigali, killing both heads of state and triggering the Rwandan genocide; attribution still unresolved.
Assassination of Kim Jong-nam
Assassination of Kim Jong-nam (김정남), half-brother of Kim Jong-un, killed with VX nerve agent by two recruited women at Kuala Lumpur airport on 13 February 2017; North Korean agents fled, only the women were tried, and Malaysia-North Korea ties collapsed.
Assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila
Laurent-Désiré Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was shot in Kinshasa on 16 January 2001, reportedly by his own bodyguard, and succeeded by his son Joseph.
Assassination of Leon Trotsky
The August 20, 1940 killing of exiled Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico City, by NKVD agent Ramón Mercader using the alias Frank Jackson and an ice axe, following a failed May 1940 Siqueiros-led attack.
Assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan
Assassination of Liaquat Ali Khan, also called the Rawalpindi murder of Shaheed-i-Millat: Pakistan's first prime minister was shot by Afghan gunman Said Akbar at Company Bagh, Rawalpindi, on 16 October 1951; three investigations failed to establish motive or conspiracy.
Assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh
The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh (محمود المبحوح) was the killing of a senior Hamas military commander in his Dubai hotel room in January 2010, widely attributed to Israel's Mossad.
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., also called the MLK assassination or Lorraine Motel shooting: James Earl Ray shot the civil rights leader in Memphis on April 4, 1968; HSCA found a likelihood of conspiracy, later reviews did not.
Assassination of Melchior Ndadaye
The assassination of Melchior Ndadaye was the killing of Burundi's first democratically elected president by Tutsi army officers on 21 October 1993, starting the Burundian civil war.
Assassination of Michael the Brave
Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul) was the prince of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia, killed in Transylvania on August 19, 1601, by Walloon mercenaries sent by General Giorgio Basta.
Assassination of Mohamed Boudiaf
Assassination of Mohamed Boudiaf (محمد بوضياف), Algeria's head of state, shot dead 29 June 1992 in Annaba by bodyguard Lembarek Boumaarafi during a live televised speech; instigators never identified.
Assassination of Patrice Lumumba
Assassination of Patrice Lumumba, Congo's first legally elected prime minister, shot in Katanga on 17 January 1961 with Mpolo and Okito; Belgian inquiry found moral responsibility, CIA plot documented, tooth returned 2022.
Assassination of Qasem Soleimani
Qasem Soleimani (قاسم سلیمانی), IRGC Quds Force commander, killed by US MQ-9 drone strike at Baghdad airport January 3, 2020, with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis; followed by Iranian missile retaliation and PS752 shootdown.
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi
Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi: former Indian PM killed May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu by LTTE suicide bomber Dhanu with a belt bomb during an election rally; led to CBI probe, 26 convictions, 2022 release of convicts, and Narasimha Rao's premiership.
Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich
Operation Anthropoid: the 27 May 1942 SOE and Czechoslovak-exile assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in Prague by Jan Kubiš and Jozef Gabčík, followed by the Lidice and Ležáky reprisals.
Assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Muammar Gaddafi, killed 3 February 2026 in Zintan, Libya, by four masked gunmen; former ICC indictee, 2015 death sentence, 2021 presidential candidate; funeral in Bani Walid.
Assassination of Thomas Sankara
The assassination of Thomas Sankara was the killing of Burkina Faso's president in Ouagadougou on 15 October 1987 by commandos loyal to his deputy, Blaise Compaoré, who then ruled for 27 years.
Assassination of Tom Mboya
The assassination of Tom Mboya was the fatal shooting of Kenyan minister Tom Mboya on a Nairobi street on 5 July 1969, a pivotal event in Kenya's post-colonial history.
Assassination of Wasfi Tal
Assassination of Wasfi Tal (وصفي التل): Black September gunmen killed Jordan's prime minister and defense minister at Cairo's Sheraton Hotel, 28 November 1971, as revenge for expelling the PLO's fedayeen from Jordan.
Assault of Abner Louima
The 1997 assault of Abner Louima: NYPD officers beat and sodomized the Haitian immigrant at Brooklyn's 70th Precinct; Justin Volpe got 30 years, Schwarz's conviction was reversed, and the city paid $8.7 million.
Asymmetric warfare
Asymmetric warfare: conflict between belligerents of unequal power or status who fight by deliberately different methods; also called irregular or guerrilla warfare. Weaker actors use ambushes, IEDs, terrorism, and protracted conflict; strong states use their own asymmetric advantages.
ATF gunwalking scandal
ATF gunwalking scandal centers on Operation Fast and Furious (2009-2011), an ATF Phoenix firearms trafficking probe in which roughly 2,000 guns were allowed to reach Mexican cartels, leading to Agent Brian Terry's death, a contempt vote against Holder, and the 2012 DOJ Inspector General report.
Atlanta campaign
The Atlanta campaign (May 7 to September 2, 1864) was Sherman's Union advance from Chattanooga against Johnston's, then Hood's, Confederate Army of Tennessee, ending with the capture of Atlanta, about 70,000 casualties, Lincoln's reelection, and the March to the Sea.
Atlantic Wall
The Atlantic Wall (Atlantikwall) was Nazi Germany's 1942–1945 coastal defense line of bunkers and obstacles from northern Norway to the Spanish border, built by Organisation Todt with over 1.5 million workers including forced labor, and breached at Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944.
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: US atomic attacks of August 6 and 9, 1945 using Little Boy and Fat Man that killed over 200,000 and ended World War II.