This is a timeline of incidents in 1980 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 | data-sort-type="number" | Dead | data-sort-type="number" | Injured | Location | Details | Perpetrator | Part of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 January | Bombing | 3 | 5 | Dunmurry, Northern Ireland | An incendiary bomb planted on a train by the Provisional IRA prematurely detonated and set the train on fire, killing 3 and wounding 5. | Provisional IRA | The Troubles | ||
| 20 January | Bombing | 4 | 10 | Alonsotegi, Spain | A Spanish unionist paramilitary called the Grupos Armados Españoles bombed a bar that was known as a meeting place for Basque nationalists. | Grupos Armados Españoles | Basque conflict | ||
| 25 January | Siege | 5 | 5 | Pretoria, South Africa | Silverton Bank Siege: members of an Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) unit were confronted by the police while "on their way to carry out a mission". They entered a bank where they held customers hostage. This was followed by a shoot-out with the police in which two civilians and the three MK operatives were killed.[1] | Umkhonto we Sizwe | Internal resistance to apartheid | ||
| 1 February | Shooting, grenade | 6 (+2 attackers) | 0 | Ispaster, Spain | Basque group ETA kills 6 Civil Guards in a gun and grenade attack. 2 ETA members are killed by grenades they threw. | ETA | Basque conflict | ||
| 14 February | Shooting | 0 | 1 | San José, Costa Rica | An explosion in Radio Noticias del Continente. The group 15th of September Legion claimed responsibility.[2] | 15th of September Legion | Terrorism in Costa Rica | ||
| 27 February – 27 April | Siege | 1 (an attacker) | 5 | Bogotá, Colombia | 17 members of the 19th of April Movement held 60 hostages at the Dominican embassy for 2 months before escaping to Cuba. The only fatality was a young militant killed by police on the first day of the siege. | M-19 | Colombian conflict | ||
| 7–8 April | Shooting, hostage-taking | 3 (+5 attackers) | 16 | Misgav Am, Israel | Five Palestinian terrorists from the Iraqi-backed Arab Liberation Front penetrated Kibbutz Misgav Am at night and entered the nursery. They killed the kibbutz secretary and an infant boy. They held the rest of the children hostage, demanding the release of about 50 terrorists held in Israeli prisons. The first raid of an IDF infantry unit was unsuccessful, but a second attempt, a few hours later, succeeded, and all the terrorists were killed. Two kibbutz members and one soldier were killed, four children and 11 soldiers were injured.[3] | Arab Liberation Front | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | ||
| 30 April – 5 May | Shooting | 5 | 2 | London, England | The Iranian Embassy siege took place after six armed men stormed the Iranian embassy in South Kensington. The gunmen, members of an Iranian Arab group campaigning for Arab national sovereignty in the southern region of Khuzestan, took 26 people hostage—mostly embassy staff, but also several visitors as well as a police officer who had been guarding the embassy. They demanded the release of Arab prisoners from prisons in Iran and their own safe passage out of the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government quickly resolved that safe passage would not be granted, and a siege ensued. Over the following days, police negotiators secured the release of five hostages in exchange for minor concessions, such as the broadcasting of the hostage-takers' demands on British television. However, a breakdown in negotiations led to the gunmen killing an embassy employee, forcing the government to send in SAS commandos to storm the embassy, rescuing all but one hostage who was killed by the gunmen during the assault and killing five of the six hostage-takers. | Democratic Revolutionary Front for the Liberation of Arabistan | Arab separatism in Khuzestan | ||
| 11 May | Shooting | 5 | Unknown | Santander Department, Colombia | In rural areas of the municipality of La Paz, guerrillas from the IV front of the FARC kill 4 civilians and 1 policeman.[4] | FARC | Colombian conflict | ||
| 22 May | Bombing | 0 | 1 | Valparaíso, Chile | A bomb explodes outside PDI headquarters wounding one civilian. | Revolutionary Left Movement | Armed resistance in Chile (1973–90) | ||
| 13 July | Shooting, ambush | 2 (+2 attackers) | 3 | Orio, Spain | Several members of ETA shoot and ambush a group of Civil Guards, killing two and injuring three. The guards managed to kill two of the attackers. | ETA | Basque conflict | ||
| 15 July | Assassination, Shooting | 1 | 1 | Santiago, Chile | Revolutionary Left Movement militants kill the director of the intelligence school of the Chilean army, lieutenant colonel Roger Vergara Campos and wounding his driver deputy sergeant Mario Espinoza Navarro.[5] | Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile) | Armed resistance in Chile (1973–90) | ||
| 23 July – 2 August | Kidnappings, Murder | 1 | 13 | Santiago, Chile | After the killing of LT Col. Roger Vergara, a group composed of far right militants and rogue police officers called COVEMA kidnapped 14 college students with links to leftist organizations. During their days as hostages, the students were beaten and torture and one journalism student of the Catholic University died because of his injuries days after being release. | COVEMA | Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990) | ||
| 27 July | Grenade | 1 | 20 | Antwerp, Belgium | A member of the Abu Nidal Organization throws two hand grenades into a group of Jewish schoolchildren waiting for a bus stop, killing one and wounding twenty. Said Al Nasr was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.[6] | Said Al Nasr Abu Nidal Organization | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | ||
| 31 July | Shooting | 2 | 2 | Athens, Greece | Two members of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia attacked a Turkish family near the Turkish embassy. The father and 14-year-old daughter were killed while the mother and 16-year-old son were seriously wounded. | ASALA | |||
| 2 August | Bombing | 85 | 200+ | Bologna, Italy | Three members of the neo-fascist group Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari detonate a time bomb at Bologna Central Station. | Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari | Anni di piombo | ||
| 5 August | Shooting | 2 | 11 | Lyon, France | Two members of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia stormed the Turkish Consulate and opened fire, killing a doorman and a French visitor. | ASALA | Terrorism in France | ||
| 23 August | Bombing | 0 | 1 | Santiago, Chile | A bomb explodes near a bank wounding a 14 year old boy. | Revolutionary Left Movement | Armed resistance in Chile (1973–90) | ||
| 20 September | Shooting | 4 | 0 | Markina-Xemein, Spain | Four members of Basque separatist group ETA kill four Civil Guards at a bar. | ETA | Basque conflict | ||
| 26 September | Bombing | 12 (+1 attacker) | 213 | Munich, West Germany | A bomb at the Oktoberfest fairgrounds in Theresienwiese kills 12, including the alleged bomber Gundolf Kohler, a member of the neo-Nazi Military Sport Group Hoffman, and injures 213.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5W0uAAAAIBAJ&sjid=T9oFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1378,6196442&dq=oktoberfest+bombing+injured&hl=en | Gundolf Kohler | |||
| 3 October | Bombing | 4 | 46 | Paris, France | A motorcycle bomb kills four people and injures over forty at the rue Copernic synagogue.https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/carleton-profs-back-paris-bombing-suspect-1.783437 Authorities blamed the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6249760&page=1. | PFLP | Israeli–Palestinian conflict | ||
| 20 November | Shooting | 5 | 5 | Zarautz, Spain | Two ETA members open fire on Civil Guards in a bar with machine guns. Four guards and a civilian are killed and 5 other people are wounded. | ETA | Basque conflict | ||
| 16 December | Armed Assault | 1 | 0 | Santiago, Chile | An armed commando of the MIR (Revolutionary Left Movement) assaulted a bank, killing a customer. | Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile) | Armed resistance in Chile (1973–90) | ||
| 28 December | Assassination | 1 | 0 | Santiago, Chile | Extremist of the MIR kill a right-wing youth in his house in a slum neighborhood. | Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile) | Armed resistance in Chile (1973–90) | ||
| 30 December | Ambush, Armed Assault | 3 | 2 | Santiago, Chile | An armed commando of the MIR assaults three banks at the same time. In the shootout with security forces 2 policemen are killed and 2 more wounded and a bank security guard is also killed. | Revolutionary Left Movement (Chile) | Armed resistance in Chile (1973–90) | ||
| 31 December | Bombing | 20 | 85 | Nairobi, Kenya | At least 15 people were killed and 85 injured in a bombing at the Jewish-owned Norfolk Hotel. The bomber was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=E0osAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uc0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7009,1260811&dq=norfolk+hotel+kenya+blast+palestinian+popular+front&hl=en | PFLP | Israeli–Palestinian conflict |