Deadly Berlin Christmas Market Episode Is Latest in Europe

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/europe/europe-terror-attacks-2016.html

Version 0 of 1.

A truck driver barreled into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin on Monday night, killing at least 12 people and injuring scores more. The police believed it to be an attack, but the identity of any attackers and their motives were not immediately clear.

It was the most recent deadly episode to shake Europe in the last two years. Many recent attacks have been linked to jihadists, and some to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. (The majority of terror attacks have been outside of Europe, primarily in Iraq and Syria.)

While there have been several attacks in Germany, none have been large-scale. France and Belgium have each seen violence on city streets and in nightclubs and busy transit hubs. In Britain, the most recent act of deadly political violence was by an anti-immigrant extremist.

Here are some of the deadly attacks in Europe since 2015.

The Attack on Charlie Hebdo

Masked gunmen linked to Al Qaeda attacked the Paris offices of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo at the beginning of January 2015, killing 12 people, including the top editor, prominent cartoonists and police officers. The attackers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, were killed by the police two days later northeast of Paris.

Hostages at a Kosher Market in Paris

Two days after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, an ISIS-linked attacker and his companion took hostages at a Kosher supermarket in Paris. They killed four people before the police stormed the building. The attacker, Amedy Coulibaly, was killed, and the second fled and has not been found. Mr. Coulibaly told French news media he “synchronized” the attack with the one on Charlie Hebdo.

Terror and Mayhem Unleashed in Paris

A team of Islamic State attackers rampaged through Paris in November 2015, killing at least 130 people and injuring hundreds more in a coordinated wave of explosions and gun violence that targeted busy sidewalks, bustling cafes and a packed concert hall. It was the worst terror attack in Europe in 11 years.

Explosions in Brussels

Bombs tore through an airport terminal and a subway station in Brussels in March 2016, killing at least 31 people and injuring scores more. The attackers were believed to be linked to the organizers of the Paris attacks, and the blasts in Brussels came a day after one of the people who organized the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested there.

British Lawmaker Opposed to ‘Brexit’ Is Gunned Down

Jo Cox, a member of the British Parliament who advocated for Syrian refugees and campaigned against a British exit from the European Union, was assassinated in June 2016, days before the ‘Brexit’ referendum. Thomas Mair, a right-wing extremist with a history of Nazi and white supremacist sympathies, was convicted of the killing last month.

A Truck Kills Dozens in Nice

A truck driver plowed into a crowd of spectators celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice in July 2016, crashing into people for over a mile before police officers killed the driver. The attack killed 84 people and maimed and injured dozens more. The Islamic State claimed responsibility and the attacker was identified as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, a Tunisian who immigrated to France in 2005.

An Ax Attack on a Train

Just days after the attack in Nice, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee attacked passengers on a German train with an ax and a knife in the name of the Islamic State. He fled the train after injuring four people and attacked a fifth person outside the train before he was later killed by the police.

A Suicide Bombing in Bavaria

Days later, a 27-year-old Syrian asylum seeker blew himself up outside a wine bar in southern Germany, wounding 15 people. The blast happened near a music festival attended by about 2,000 people. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.

Islamic State Attackers Kill a Priest in Church

Two young men linked to the Islamic State burst into a church in Normandy during a Mass in July, slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest, killing him, and took the assembled parishioners, including at least one nun, hostage. Police stormed the church and killed both attackers.