This is a list of terrorist incidents which took place in 2020, including attacks by violent non-state actors for political motives. Note that terrorism related to drug wars and cartel violence is not included in these lists. Ongoing military conflicts are listed separately.
Total incidents:
| Date | Type | data-sort-type="number" | Dead | data-sort-type="number" | Injured | Location | Article | Details | Perpetrator | Part of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 January | Mass shooting | 89 (+77) | 6 | Filingue Department, Niger | Battle of Chinagodrar | Militants on motorbikes and in cars attacked a military outpost at Chinagodrar in the Tillabéri Region near the border with Mali. 77 militants were killed with the help of French airstrikes.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] | Islamic State in the Greater Sahara | Insurgency in the Maghreb | ||
| 10 January | Suicide bombing | 15 (+1) | 19 | Quetta, Pakistan | January 2020 Quetta bombing | Suicide bombing in a Taliban-run mosque.[7] [8] [9] [10] | Islamic State – Khorasan Province | Insurgency in Balochistan Islamic State–Taliban conflict | ||
| 18 January | Suicide car bombing | 4 (+1) | 20 | Afgooye, Somalia | 2020 Afgooye bombing | A suicide car bomber targeted a place where Turkish engineers and Somali police were having lunch in Lower Shabelle.Most of the casualties were police officers.[11] [12] [13] | Al-Shabaab | Somali Civil War | ||
| 2 February | Stabbing | 0 (+1) | 2 | London, United Kingdom | 2020 Streatham stabbing | A man who had recently been released from prison stabbed two people in public, before being shot and killed by police. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[14] [15] | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 19 February | Shootings | 10 (+1) | 5 | Hanau, Germany | Hanau shootings | Shootings in two shisha bars, one at the Midnight bar in the central square and the other at the Arena Bar & Café in the western Kesselstadt neighborhood.[16] [17] Four people were killed in the first shooting, while five were killed in the second. He killed his mother in their apartment and then committed suicide.[18] The police initiated a large-scale investigation together with the CID. The attacker, a 43-year-old man, expressed far-right views and hate for non-German people in a letter of confession and a video.[19] [20] [21] Six of the people killed in the shisha bars shootings were foreigners, while three were German citizens with foreign origins.[22] [23] | Tobias Rathjen | Right-wing terrorism in Germany | ||
| 24 February | Stabbing | 1 | 2 | Toronto, Canada | 2020 Toronto machete attack | A woman was stabbed to death and two other people were wounded in a stabbing attack at a massage parlor in the North York area. A 17-year-old boy was arrested.[24] | Oguzhan Sert | Terrorism in Canada | ||
| 6 March | Mass shooting, missile attack | 32 (+2) | 82 | Kabul, Afghanistan | 6 March 2020 Kabul shooting | Gunmen attacked a ceremony commemorating the Hazara leader Abdul Ali Mazari attended by several high-profile politicians. Both attackers were killed after a standoff.[25] | Islamic State – Khorasan Province | War in Afghanistan | ||
| 25 March | Suicide bombings, mass shooting, hostage taking | 25 (+3) | 9 | Kabul, Afghanistan | Kabul gurdwara attack | Multiple gunmen and suicide bombers opened fire on a gurdwara.[26] | Islamic State – Khorasan Province | War in Afghanistan | ||
| 4 April | Mass stabbing | 2 | 5 | Romans-sur-Isère, France | 2020 Romans-sur-Isère knife attack | A 33-year-old man stabbed 7 people before being arrested by police. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism. | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 28 April | Grenade attack | 53 | 50+ | Afrin, Syria | 2020 Afrin bombing | A grenade caused a fuel tanker to explode near a market and a government ministry.[27] [28] | YPG (suspected) | SDF insurgency in Northern Aleppo | ||
| 20 June | Mass stabbing | 3 | 3 | Reading, United Kingdom | 2020 Reading stabbings | 25-year-old Libyan born Khairi Saadallah attacked two groups of people socialising in Forbury Gardens with a knife while shouting "unintelligible words" before being arrested nearly 30 minutes later.[29] the judge said it was a terrorist attack.[30] | Khairi Saadallah | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 29 June | Grenade attack, shooting | 4 (+4) | 7 | Karachi, Pakistan | Pakistan Stock Exchange attack | Militants with grenades and automatic rifles attacked the Pakistan Stock Exchange building. All four attackers were killed by the police.[31] [32] [33] [34] | Balochistan Liberation Army | Insurgency in Balochistan | ||
| 21 July | Hostage taking, shooting | 0 | 0 | Lutsk, Ukraine | Lutsk hostage crisis | A man armed with firearms and explosives kept 13 people hostage in a bus in the city centre. After President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a short video on his Facebook page referencing the film Earthlings, all hostages were released unharmed. The gunman was arrested.[35] | Maksym Kryvosh | Terrorism in Ukraine | ||
| 2 and 3 August | Suicide car bombing, mass shooting, prison escape | 21+ (+8) | 50+ | Jalalabad, Afghanistan | Jalalabad prison attack | Militants attacked a prison holding mostly Islamic State or Taliban members. Around 300 prisoners escaped.[36] [37] [38] | Islamic State – Khorasan Province | War in Afghanistan | ||
| 24 August | Motorcycle bombing, suicide bombing | 14 (+1) | 78 | Jolo, Philippines | 2020 Jolo bombings | A motorcycle bomb exploded next to a military truck outside the Paradise Food Plaza. Six soldiers, six civilians and a police officer were killed. One hour later a female suicide bomber blew herself up in front of a branch of the Development Bank of the Philippines, killing herself and a soldier who stopped her. A total of 78 people were wounded after the bombings.[39] [40] [41] | Islamic State – East Asia Province | |||
| 25 September | Stabbing | 0 | 2 | Paris, France | 2020 Paris stabbing attack | A 25-year-old man stabbed two people outside the former headquarters of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which is now used by a television production company that employed the two wounded victims. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[42] | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 4 October | Stabbing | 1 | 1 | Dresden, Germany | 2020 Dresden knife attack | A 20-year-old man stabbed two people, killing one of them. The attacker was later arrested. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[43] | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 12 October | Shooting | 0 (+1) | 1 | Zagreb, Croatia | 2020 Zagreb shooting | A 22-year old individual opened fire at the Banski dvori (seat of the Croatian government) and injured a police officer, before committing suicide.[44] | Lone wolf | Right-wing terrorism in Croatia | ||
| 16 October | Stabbing, decapitation | 1 (+1) | 0 | Éragny-sur-Oise, France | Murder of Samuel Paty | An 18-year-old man beheaded a teacher near a school in a suburb of Paris before being shot dead by police. The victim is said to have shown controversial cartoons of Muhammad to his students. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[45] | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 26 October | Suicide bombing | 0 (+2) | 3 | İskenderun, Turkey | 2020 İskenderun bombing | Two people who ambushed Turkish security forces in Payas escaped to İskenderun, where they ambushed police forces again. One of them was shot dead by police and the other one detonated the bombs, injuring a police officer and 2 civilians and killing the perpetrator.[46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] | Kurdistan Workers' Party | Kurdish–Turkish conflict | ||
| 27 October | Bombing | 8 | 136 | Peshawar, Pakistan | 2020 Peshawar school bombing | Explosion during a class at a religious school.[52] [53] | Islamists (suspected) | Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | ||
| 29 October | Stabbing | 3 | 0 (+1) | Nice, France | 2020 Nice stabbing | A 21-year-old man stabbed four people at Notre-Dame de Nice, killing three, before being shot by police and taken into custody. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[54] | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 2 November | Shooting | 32 (+3) | 50 | Kabul, Afghanistan | 2020 Kabul University attack | Militants opened fire inside Kabul University, killing 19 students and wounding 22 others. The gunmen came into crossfire with local security forces. Three of the terrorists were shot and killed.[55] | Islamic State – Khorasan Province | War in Afghanistan | ||
| 2 November | Mass shooting | 4 (+1) | 23 | Vienna, Austria | 2020 Vienna attack | A 20-year-old man shot people at random before being shot dead by police. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism.[56] | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe | ||
| 28 November | Massacre, beheading | 110 | 6 | Jere, Nigeria | Koshebe massacre | Civilians, most of whom were peasant farmers, were killed as they worked in rice fields in Koshebe near Maiduguri. Crops worth millions of Naira were destroyed.[57] [58] [59] [60] [61] [62] [63] | Boko Haram | Boko Haram insurgency | ||
| 10 December | Car Bomb | 11 - 12 | 13 | Ras al-Ayn, Syria | Ras al-Ayn bombing | A car bomb exploded at a checkpoint run by Turkish supported Syrian National Army rebels in the Hasakah Governorate.[64] [65] | Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) – Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) | SDF insurgency in Northern Aleppo | ||
| 25 December | Vehicle Explosion | 0 (1) | 8 | Nashville, Tennessee, USA | 2020 Nashville bombing | On Christmas morning, an RV was parked in downtown Nashville across from the AT&T building. A call was placed into the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department indicating that "shots had been fired". Responding officers discovered the RV, and a message broadcasting from it indicating that the RV had a bomb inside and would detonate. Nashville police immediately called for the bomb squad to attend and officers began evacuating nearby residential buildings when the RV detonated at 06:30 damaging at least 41 buildings.[66] . 911 telecommunications for at least 180 miles were affected by the explosion as well as hospital communications within Tennessee as well as wireless communications throughout five Southern states including Tennessee. On December 27th Anthony Quinn Warner, a computer IT specialist, was identified as the suspect by federal investigators and was declared dead as human remains found in the RV were positively identified as him.[67] [68] [69] | Anthony Quinn Warner (suspect)[70] | Conspiracy Theorist [71] | ||
| 29 December | Home made bomb | 3 | 0 | Hombori, Mali | Operation Barkhane bombing | Three French soldiers serving as part of Operation Barkhane were killed when their armored vehicle was struck by a home made bomb.[72] | Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin | Mali War-----------------------> | ||
| 30 December | Bombing, mass shooting | 25 | 110 | Aden, Yemen | 2020 Aden attacks | One or two explosions struck the airport in Aden as the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi was returning after agreeing to a power-sharing agreement earlier in the week with southern separatists. Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed was whisked away quickly to the security of the government palace following the attack. At least 25 people were killed, with three being medics from the Red Crescent, in the explosion and another 110 were injured, including 3 Red Crescent medics. It is unknown who is behind the blast(s) but Houthi rebels are suspected.[73] [74] [75] | Houthis (suspected) | Yemeni Civil War |