This is a timeline of incidents in 1998 that have been labelled as "terrorism" and are not believed to have been carried out by a government or its forces (see state terrorism and state-sponsored terrorism).
| Date | Type | Dead | Injured | Location | Details | Perpetrators | Part of | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 January | Suicide bombing | 17 | 25 | Kandy, Sri Lanka | Four likely members of the Black Tiger squad drove an explosives-laden truck into the Temple of the Tooth, a major Buddhist shrine, killing seventeen and injuring 25.[1] | Black Tiger | Sri Lankan Civil War | |
| 25 January | Massacre | 23 | Jammu and Kashmir, India | 23 Hindus are massacred by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in the town of Wandhama | Lashkar-e-Taiba | Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir | ||
| 14 February | Bombings | 58 | 200+ | Coimbatore, India | 13 bombs exploded over the course of two hours, killing 58 people. The bombs were planted by Islamic extremists from the Al Ummah organization and were meant to target Hindus as well as Hindu nationalist leader L.K. Advani. | Al Ummah | ||
| 1-5 March | Assault | 64 (+30) | 19, 43 Kidnapped (+80) | Caquetá Department, Colombia | An attack in El Billar leaves 64 soldiers dead and 43 kidnapped. Counterguerrilla Battalion No. 52 of Mobile Brigade 3 (153 soldiers) is destroyed.[2] | FARC | Colombian conflict | |
| 2/6 April | Bombings | 0 | 0 | Riga, Latvia | Latvia's only synagogue, the Peitav Synagogue was bombed. The blast caused extensive damage but did not harm anyone. Four days later the Russian Embassy was bombed. No one was ever convicted but Latvian nationalists are believed to be to have been responsible. | Latvian nationalists (suspected) | ||
| 17 April | Massacre | 26 | Udhampur, India | 26 Hindus are massacred by Islamists in Jammu and Kashmir state. | Islamists | Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir | ||
| 8 June | Massacre | 80 | Kabarole, Uganda | +80 students are massacred by ADF militants. | ADF | Allied Democratic Forces insurgency | ||
| 3 August 8 | Massacre | 35 | 11 | Chamba district, India | 35 Hindus were massacred by Pakistani Islamists in two towns of Himachal Pradesh | Islamists | Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir | |
| 3-4 August | Assault | 16 | 26 (+129 Kidnapped) | Miraflores, Guaviare, Colombia | The FARC attack an anti-drug base, kill 16 police and military personnel and kidnap 129.[3] | FARC | Colombian conflict | |
| 7 August | Truck bombings | 224 | 4,000+ | Nairobi, Kenya, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Two United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania were bombed by members of al-Qaeda and the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. 224 people were killed in the blasts (213 in Nairobi, 11 in Dar es Salaam) and over 4,000 people were wounded. | al-Qaeda EIJ | ||
| 15 August | Car bombing | 29 | 220 | Omagh, Northern Ireland | A Real IRA bomb with 500lb of explosives detonated in a market place killing 29 people, one woman who was pregnant with twins and injured 220 others.[4] | Real IRA | The Troubles | |
| 9 September | Massacre | 34-39 | Lake Radonjić, Yugoslavia | The Kosovo Liberation Army massacred between 34 and 39 Kosovo Serbs as well as several moderate Albanians | KLA | Kosovo war | ||
| 29 September | Bombing | 55 | 0 | Near Mannar District, Sri Lanka | Lionair Flight 602 disappeared off the coast of Mannar District shortly after leaving Kankesanturai Airport in Jaffna. The LTTE had issued warning shortly before the plane disappeared. The wreckage of the plane was discovered in October 2012 and appeared to have been bombed. | LTTE | Sri Lankan Civil War | |
| 3 October | Kidnapping | 4 | Grozny, Russia | About 20 Chechen separatists kidnapped four engineers, three British and one New Zealander. The bodies of the engineers were found on 8 December. | Chechen separatists | Terrorism in Russia | ||
| 18 October | Bombing | 84 | 30 | Machuca, Segovia, Colombia | The Machuca massacre was an attack by the National Liberation Army (ELN) in Antioquia) that saw the dynamiting of a pipeline, which caused a fire and spread to the town. 46 houses were burned, 84 people died and 30 people survived. Half the victims were minors.[5] | ELN | Colombian Conflict | |
| 14 December | Massacre | 6 | 15 | Peć, Yugoslavia | Two men believed to be members of the Kosovo Liberation Army opened fire on café and killed six young Serb men and wounded 15 others. | KLA | Kosovo war | |
| 28-29 December | Kidnapping, shootout | 4 (+2) | 2 (+10 kidnapped) | Abyan Governorate, Yemen | Militants attacked a convoy of western tourists, kidnapping 16 and taking them to a remote hideout.[6] The following day, Yemeni forces raided the hideout, resulting in a shootout where three militants were killed. Four hostages were also killed and two were injured.[7] | Aden-Abyan Islamic Army |