This is a timeline of incidents in 1978 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 | Perpetrator | Part of | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 7 | Shooting | 2 | 1 | Rome, Italy | A leftist terrorist group attacked the office of the Italian Social Movement, killing three people in an event known as the Acca Larentia Massacre. | Nuclei Armati di Contropotere Territoriale | ||
| February 1 | Poisoning | 0 | 5 | Netherlands | Members of the Arab Revolutionary Council poison Israeli oranges with mercury, injuring five children.[1] | Arab Revolutionary Council | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
| February 4 | Ambush | 10 | Unknown | Carare-Opon region, Colombia | Guerrillas from the IV front of the FARC ambush two Army trucks in Campo Capote. A second lieutenant and 9 soldiers are killed.[2] | FARC | Colombian conflict | |
| February 13 | Bombing | 3 | 11 | Sydney, Australia | A bomb placed in a garbage bin at the Hilton Hotel explodes while the bin was being emptied into a garbage truck. Two garbage collectors and a police officer were killed and eleven others were wounded. The perpetrators were never identified, but the hotel was hosting the first ever Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which was the likely target. | Unknown | ||
| February 17 | Bombing | 12 | 30 | County Down, Northern Ireland | The Provisional Irish Republican Army plants an incendiary bomb outside the La Mon restaurant in Gransha. The bomb exploded before the restaurant could be evacuated after PIRA phoned in a threat. | PIRA | The Troubles | |
| February 18 | Shooting | 1 | 20 | Nicosia, Cyprus | Two assassins killed prominent Egyptian newspaper editor Youssef Sebai and then rounded up several Arabs who were attending a convention as hostages. As Cypriot forces were trying to negotiate with the hostage-takers at the airport, Egyptian troops decided to launch their own assault without authorization from the Cypriots. The unauthorized raid led to the Egyptians and the Cypriots exchanging gunfire, killing or injuring more than 20 of the Egyptian commandos. | |||
| February 24 | Bombing | 1 | 0 | Tenerife, Spain | Police officer Rafael Valdenebro attempted to deactivate a bomb placed by the group in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, which was intended to assassinate a local lawyer. He was hit in the head, arms and legs and died on March 8.[3] | MPAIAC | Terrorism in Spain | |
| March 3 | Bombing | 1 | 3 | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | Bomb explodes outside Government offices. | Umkhonto We Sizwe | Internal resistance to apartheid | |
| March 11 | Massacre | 39 (+9) | 71 | Tel Aviv, Israel | 11 PLO terrorists hijack a bus on Coastal highway and take dozens of civilians hostage. 38 civilians and one Israeli soldier are killed when police attempt to raid the bus, which burst into flames. | PLO | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
| March 13–14 | Hostage-taking | 2 | 1 | Assen, Netherlands | Three South Moluccans took 70 hostages at the provincial hall, demanding the release of Molucccan prisoners. Two hostage were executed and a photographer was wounded. | South Moluccan freedom fighters | ||
| March 16 – May 9 | Kidnapping, murder | 6 | 0 | Italy | Former prime minister and leader of the Democrazia Cristiana party, Aldo Moro, is kidnapped by Red Brigades terrorists on March 16. The terrorists kill his five bodyguards. Moro is found murdered after 55 days of captivity. | Red Brigades | ||
| March 16 | Massacre | 7 | 41 | Beyazıt Square, Istanbul, Turkey | The Beyazıt massacre was the killing of students at Istanbul University, in which 7 died and 41 were injured. | Grey Wolves (organization) | Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980) | |
| March 17 | Bombing | 2 | 2 | Lemoiz, Spain | ETA planted a bomb in the under-construction Lemóniz nuclear reactor, killing two workers (Andrés Guerra and Alberto Negro), wounded two more, and causing substantial damage to the reactor itself. Further ETA actions ultimately resulted in the cancellation of the project. | ETA | Basque conflict, Anti-nuclear movement in Spain | |
| March 17 | Massacre | 5 | Ümraniye, Istanbul, Turkey | Ümraniye Massacre in the 1 Mayıs District (now Mustafa Kemal District), five workers (Salih Ulug, Ömer Bayraktar, Cevat Koca, Bahri Bilgin and Sinan Koca) who were members of the Nationalist Confederation of Trade Unions and came from the Çanakçı district of Giresun were killed by members of the (TİKKO). | TİKKO | Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980) | ||
| April 13 | Attempted car bombing | 0 | 1 | Guipuzcoa, Spain | Several individuals tried to plant an explosive device at ADEGUI's headquarters in San Sebastián. The attack was partially unsuccessful. One of the perpetrators was wounded in detonating the bomb early and escaped from the scene of the attack by car. The militant, identified as Vicente Aldalur, was hospitalized in France for severe burns.[4] | Comandos Autonomos Anticapitalistas | Basque conflict | |
| May 9 | Shooting | 2 | 3 | Eastern Highlands, Rhodesia | Two civilians were killed during an attack on the Montclair Hotel. Guerillas fired at least three rocket-propelled grenades, before opening fire with AK-47 assault rifles. | ZANLA | Rhodesian Bush War | |
| May 20 | Shooting | 2 (+3) | 5 | Paris, France | Three terrorists fire on El Al passengers in the departure lounge of Orly Airport, resulting in the death of all three terrorists and one policeman, with three French tourists injured.[5] | Palestinians | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
| May 24 | Assassination | 1 | 0 | Guipúzcoa, Spain | A taxi driver was beaten and shot dead by the Batallon Vasco Espanol which accused the taxi driver of having helped an ETA attack.[6] | Batallon Vasco Espanol | Basque Conflict | |
| May 25 | Bombing | 0 | 1 | Evanston, Illinois, United States | Police officer Terry Marker is injured by a bomb sent to professor Buckley Crist at Northwestern University by Theodore Kaczynski. | Theodore Kaczynski | ||
| June 7 | Shooting | 2 | 2 | Figtree, Rhodesia | Two British women mission teachers were shot dead and two other missionaries wounded during a raid by ZIPRA guerrillas on the Salvation Army Usher Institute. | Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) | Rhodesian Bush War | |
| June 23 | Massacre | 12 | 0 | Vumba Mountains, Rhodesia | Eight British missionaries and four young children – including a three-week-old baby – were beaten, stabbed and axed to death at Elim Mission near Umtali (now Mutare) on the border with Mozambique. Most of the women were also sexually assaulted. | Rhodesian Bush War | ||
| June 27 | Shooting | 2 | 0 | Hartley district, Rhodesia | Two German-born missionaries, Father Gregor Richert (48) and Brother Bernhard Lisson (68), were shot by a small group of terrorists near their quarters at St. Rupert's Mission. | Rhodesian Bush War | ||
| August 10 | Massacre | 5 | 14 | Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey | Balgat Massacre. Four coffeehouses with left-wingers were fired from a car with automatic weapons. As a result of the gunfire, four people were killed and eleven people were injured, two seriously. | Mustafa Pehlivanoğlu and Haydar Şahin | Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980) | |
| August 13 | Bombing | 175 | 80 | Beirut, Lebanon | A bomb destroys an office building in West Beirut housing the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Front, killing more than 175 people and injuring another 80. The bombing was allegedly carried out by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command.[7] | PFLP-GC | Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon | |
| August 14 | Shooting | 12 | 0 | Cimitarra, Colombia | FARC members murder 12 peasants in Santander Department. | FARC | Colombian conflict | |
| August 19 | Shooting | 6 | Unknown | Boyacá, Colombia | FARC guerrillas attack troops from the battalion of engineers "Baraya", and kill 6 soldiers in Otanche[8] | FARC | Colombian conflict | |
| August 19 | Shooting | 2 | 2 | Managua, Nicaragua | Two people who collaborated in the regime of General Anastasio Somoza were shot dead and two other policemen injured.[9] | Sandinists | ||
| August 19 | Arson | 400+ | Abadan, Iran | As a result of arson in the Cinema Rex, some 377 people were killed. Upon perceiving the fire, the 700 audiences of the cinema rushed towards the exit doors, but found them closed. Hundreds of people had packed into the cinema to watch the film The Deers. | Disputed | Iranian Revolution | ||
| August 20 | Shooting, grenade attacks | 1 (+1) | 9 | London, United Kingdom | A crew bus of El Al was attacked by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).[10] A flight attendant and one suspected terrorist were killed in the attack, and nine people were injured.[11] [12] | PFLP | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
| September 1–6 | Bombings | 0 | 2 | Speedway, United States | A series of eight bombings occurs in the town of Speedway, Indiana. A Vietnam War veteran and his wife are seriously wounded in the last bombing. A local drug dealer named Brett Kimberlin is convicted of the bombings. The motive for the bombings was never determined but they may have been meant to serve as a distraction from a murder which Kimbelin was allegedly involved with. | Brett Kimberlin | ||
| September 3 | Aircraft shootdown | 48 | 8 | Karoi, Rhodesia | Members of ZIPRA shot down Air Rhodesia Flight 825 from Kariba to Salisbury killing 48 civilians. 38 were killed in the crash and 10 survivors were shot with automatic weapons. | ZIPRA | Rhodesian Bush War | |
| October 9 | Bahçelievler massacre | 7 | Bahçelievler, Ankara, Turkey | Latif Can, Efraim Ezgin, Hürcan Gürses, Osman Nuri Uzunlar, Serdar Alten, Faruk Ersan and Salih Gevence, young members of the Workers Party of Turkey, were killed. | Grey Wolves (organization) | Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980) | ||
| October 22 | Shooting | 3 | 1 | Getxo, Spain | Four Civil Guards are shot by ETA while returning from a football match. Three die. | ETA | Basque conflict | |
| December 19–26 | Massacre | 120 | 1000+ | Kahramanmaraş Province, Turkey | Massacre of Alevis. According to official figures, 120 people were killed during the events. 559 houses belonging to Alevis were burned, nearly 290 workplaces were destroyed. | Grey Wolves (organization) | Political violence in Turkey (1976–1980) | |
| December 31 | Theft | 0 | 0 | Bogotá, Colombia | Members of the M-19 enter a tunnel steal more than 5000 weapons in the North Canton, main deposit of arms of the Military Forces of Colombia.[13] | Movimiento 19 Abril | Colombian conflict |