This is a timeline of incidents in 1977 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).
Total incidents:
| Date | Type | Dead | Injured | Location | Details | Perpetrator | Part of | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 4 | Shooting | 1(+1) | 1 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | While integrating a group that carried out a traffic control near San Justo, Buenos Aires Province, conscript Guillermo Félix Dimitri was shot dead by a high-speed car occupied by Ana María González and two men. The security forces repelled the attack and seriously wounded one of the men and the young woman, who died hours later in a shelter of the organization and his body was cremated by his companions. | ERP (Suspected) | Dirty War | |
| January 8 | Bombings | 7 | 37 | Moscow, USSR | Three explosions in Moscow. A bomb was detonated on a Moscow Metro train as it rolled into Kurskaya station. Seven people died and 33 were seriously injured.[1] | Unknown | ||
| January 24 | Massacre | 5 | 4 | Madrid, Spain | Massacre of members of Workers' Commissions and Communist Party of Spain members at the Atocha railway station. Group calling itself Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista claimed responsibility and the men who carried out the shooting were linked the neo-fascist party Fuerza Nueva | Fuerza Nueva militants | Terrorism in Spain | |
| February 18 | Attempted bombing | 0 | 0 | Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Argentina | The so-called "Gaviota Operation" was an assassination attempt against the dictator of Argentina, Jorge Rafael Videla, by the guerrilla organization People's Revolutionary Army, but by faults in the detonator, exploded after (when the airplane was in the air).[2] | ERP | Dirty War | |
| March 9–11 | Hostage-taking | 2 | 1 | Washington, D.C., United States | 12 gunmen from Nation of Islam splinter group "Hanafi" take over Washington City Hall, the headquarters of B'nai B'rith and the Islamic Center of Washington. They took 149 hostages and killed a radio journalist and a police officer and wounded future Washington mayor Marion Barry. | Hanafi movement | ||
| March 27 | Bombing that helped lead to a plane crash, due in part to the dangerous situation the terrorists created by overloading Tenerife North Airport by diverting aircraft there | 583 (indirectly) | 7 (directly) 61 (indirectly) | Canary Islands, Spain | A small bomb is detonated at the Gran Canaria Airport. Although only injuring one person, the consequent closure of the airport led to the greatest airplane collision in history, killing 583 people when two 747 airplanes collided in the regional airport of Tenerife.[3] [4] | MPAIAC | Terrorism in SpainTenerife airport disaster | |
| April 7 | Shooting | 2 | 0 | West Germany | Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver were shot by two Red Army Faction members. | Red Army Faction | ||
| April 13 | Kidnapping | 0 | 1 | Verrières-le-Buisson, France | Luchino Revelli-Beaumont, director of FIAT in France was abducted and executed by a group of people who had been involved in guerrilla organizations in Argentina. According to the relatives of the businessman the fact was committed with the purpose of obtaining a ransom that, finally, was 2 million dollars. The kidnapping was released after 89 days and all but one of them were arrested but could not be tried. | Argetinian Militants | Dirty War | |
| May 1 | Massacre | 34 | 136 | Taksim Square, Istanbul, Turkey | Resulted in the deaths of 34 people and the injury of 136 people on International Workers' Day. | Counter-Guerrilla | ||
| May 23 – June 11 | Hostage crisis | 0 | 0 | Bovensmilde, Netherlands | Four South Moluccan youths took 110 hostages at a primary school. The crisis ended after 20 days, when authorities decided to launch an assault. The hostage takers surrendered after learning about their companions' fate in the assault on the train on which they held hostages of their own. | South Moluccan freedom fighters | ||
| May 23 – June 11 | Hijacking | 2 (+6) | 6 | Glimmen, Netherlands | Nine South Moluccan youths hijacked a train and took an estimated 50 hostages. The ordeal lasted 20 days and was carried out concurrently with the school hostage taking in Bovensmilde. | South Moluccan freedom fighters | ||
| May 29 | Bombings | 5 | +64 | Istanbul, Turkey | A double bombing in railroad station and airport killed five persons and wounded 64.[5] [6] | Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide | Terrorism in Turkey | |
| June 2 | Shooting | 3 | 0 | Ardboe, United Kingdom | Three members of a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Police Force mobile patrol were shot and killed by Provisional Irish Republican Army snipers in County Tyrone. | PIRA | The Troubles | |
| June 9 | Assassination | 1 | 0 | Rome, Italy | Assassination of Taha Carım, Turkish ambassador to the Holy See | Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide | ||
| July 6 | Bombing | 1 | 22 | Petah Tikva, Israel | A pipe bomb exploded in a vegetable market, killing one and wounding 22. | Palestinians | ||
| July 24 | Bombing | 0 (1 dog) | 0 | United States | The home of Morris J. Amitay was bombed in the early morning hours.[7] Amitay was executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. None of the sleeping family was hurt but the family dog was killed. | Unknown | ||
| July 30 | Murder, attempted kidnapping | 1 | 0 | Oberursel, West Germany | Jürgen Ponto was shot and killed in a botched kidnapping attempt by members of the Red Army Faction. | Red Army Faction | ||
| August 3 | Bombing | 1 | 8 | New York City, United States | Puerto Rican nationalist group Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña in Manhattan bombed the offices of Mobil Oil and a building containing United States Department of Defense security personnel, killing one person and injuring eight others in the Mobil offices. In addition, the group warned that bombs were located in thirteen other buildings, including the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center, resulting in the evacuation of a hundred thousand people. Five days later, a bomb attributed to the group was found in the American Express building.[8] | FALN | ||
| September 28 – October 3 | Hijacking | 0 | 0 | Dhaka, Bangladesh | Five members of the Japanese Red Army hijack Japan Airlines Flight 472 and demand $6 million USD as well as the release of nine imprisoned JRA members. The hijackers released all hostages without incident after their demands were met and after being given a safe passage to Algeria. | Japanese Red Army | ||
| September 29 | Murder | 1 | 0 | Chipinga, Rhodesia | A 6-month old baby, Natasha Glenny, is bayoneted to death during an attack on a homestead near the Mozambican border. | Rhodesian Bush War | ||
| October 8 | Assassination | 3 | 0 | Guernica, Spain | Guernica mayor and President of the Provincial Deputation of Biscay Augusto Unceta Barrenechea is assassinated along with his two bodyguards by ETA. | ETA | Basque conflict | |
| October 13 | Hijacking | 1 (+3) | 3 (+1) | Lufthansa Flight 181 was hijacked by a group of four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and taken to Mogadishu; it was later released after a rescue operation launched by a GSG 9 commando group.[9] | PFLP | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | ||
| October 18 | Kidnapping, murder | 1 | 0 | West Germany/France | Hanns Martin Schleyer is murdered by the Red Army Faction in France after three RAF members were found dead in prison. The RAF had kidnapped Schleyer six weeks earlier in Cologne. | Red Army Faction | German Autumn | |
| December 4 | Hijacking | 100 | 0 | Tanjung Kupang, Malaysia | Malaysian Airline System Flight 653 is hijacked by an unknown perpetrator and crashes about 40 minutes after the first reports of a hijacking. The hijacker and the circumstances of the crash have never been identified, however, several gunshots were heard over the cockpit voice recorder and the pilots may have said over the CVR that the hijacker was a Japanese Red Army member. | Unknown | ||
| December 19 | Bombing | 0 | 0 | Paris, France | A bomb destroyed the luxury food shop Fauchon. | |||
| December 28 | Bombing | 1 | 0 | San Ġwann, Malta | Karin Grech is killed by a letterbomb. Her father, Edwin Grech, who was the head of the OB/GYN department at St. Luke's Hospital was the likely target as there was a worker's strike going on St. Luke's at the time of the bombing.[10] | Unknown |