Society and history

Assassination of Khumarawayh

The assassination of Khumarawayh (مقتل خمارويه) was the killing of the second Tulunid ruler of Egypt and Syria by a slave in 896, opening a decade of crises.

Assassination of Kim Gu

The assassination of Kim Gu (김구 암살사건) was the killing of the Korean independence leader and last president of the Provisional Government by lieutenant Ahn Doo-hee in Seoul on June 26, 1949.

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 Kim Ok-gyun

The assassination of Kim Ok-gyun (김옥균 암살사건) was the shooting of the Korean reformer in Shanghai on March 28, 1894, ten years after his failed Gapsin Coup.

Assassination of King Gongmin

The assassination of King Gongmin was his stabbing death in 1374 by Jajewi guards led by Hong Ryun and eunuch Choe Man-saeng, which ended Gongmin's reform program.

Assassination of King Ugeo and fall of Wanggeom

The assassination of King Ugeo and fall of Wanggeom ended the Gojoseon state in 108 BC, when his minister killed him during the Han siege of the capital.

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 Le Tuong Duc

The assassination of Le Tuong Duc was the killing of the Vietnamese emperor by general Trinh Duy San in a 1516 palace coup in Hanoi.

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 Maharaja Sher Singh

The assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh (ਸ਼ੇਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਦੀ ਹੱਤਿਆ) was the 1843 murder of the Sikh Empire's ruler by the sardar Ajit Singh during a troop inspection near Lahore.

Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi

Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Nathuram Godse shot Gandhi three times at point-blank range at Birla House, New Delhi, on 30 January 1948; Godse and Narayan Apte were sentenced to death, and the RSS was banned afterward.

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 Malcolm X

Assassination of Malcolm X: the February 21, 1965 fatal shooting of Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) at Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom; three men convicted, two exonerated in 2021 after withheld FBI and NYPD evidence surfaced.

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 Minamoto no Sanetomo

The assassination of Minamoto no Sanetomo (実朝暗殺) was the 1219 murder of the third Kamakura shogun by his nephew Kugyō at Kamakura's Tsurugaoka Hachimangū shrine, ending the Minamoto shogunal line.

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 Muhammad of Ghor

The assassination of Muhammad of Ghor, killed by Gakkhar tribesmen near the Indus in 1206, split his Ghurid empire and led to Qutb al-Din Aibak's rule.

Assassination of Nader Shah

The assassination of Nader Shah (ترور نادرشاه) was the killing of Iran's ruler in 1747 by Afshar and Qajar officers at his camp near Khabushan.

Assassination of Narayanrao Peshwa

The assassination of Narayanrao Peshwa (नारायणराव पेशवा की हत्या) was the murder of the ruling Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy by Gardi guards at Poona in 1773.

Assassination of Naser al-Din Shah

The Assassination of Naser al-Din Shah (ترور ناصرالدین‌شاه) was the fatal shooting of the Shah of Iran by Mirza Reza Kermani at Rey near Tehran on 1 May 1896.

Assassination of Nizam al-Mulk

The Assassination of Nizam al-Mulk (ترور نظام‌الملک) was the killing of the Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk in October 1092 by an assassin sent by Hasan Sabbah.

Assassination of Olof Palme

Assassination of Olof Palme: the 28 February 1986 fatal shooting of Sweden's prime minister on Sveavägen, Stockholm. Also known as Palmemordet. Unsolved: no conviction ever; Christer Pettersson acquitted 1989; investigation closed 2020 naming Stig Engström, a designation withdrawn in 2025.

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 Paul I

The assassination of Paul I was the killing of Emperor Paul I of Russia by court and guard conspirators at St Petersburg's Mikhailovsky Castle in March 1801.

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 Rafael Trujillo

The assassination of Rafael Trujillo was the killing of the Dominican Republic's dictator by Dominican dissidents on 30 May 1961, ending his rule since 1930.