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Timeline: Deadly Attacks in Western Europe


A woman gestures as she is escorted by Spanish policemen outside a cordoned off area, after a van struck members of a crowd on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Aug. 17, 2017.
A woman gestures as she is escorted by Spanish policemen outside a cordoned off area, after a van struck members of a crowd on Las Ramblas in Barcelona, Aug. 17, 2017.

Following are some of the deadly attacks in Western Europe in recent years:

Aug. 17, 2017 — A van ploughs into crowds in the heart of Barcelona, killing at least 13 people, a regional official says, in what police say they are treating as a terrorist attack.

June 3, 2017 — Three attackers ram a van into pedestrians on London Bridge then stab revellers in nearby bars, killing eight people and injuring at least 48. Islamic State says its militants are responsible.

Flowers and tributes to the victims of the attack on Manchester Arena fill St Ann's Square in Manchester, Britain, May 29, 2017.
Flowers and tributes to the victims of the attack on Manchester Arena fill St Ann's Square in Manchester, Britain, May 29, 2017.

May 22, 2017 — A suicide bomber kills 22 children and adults and wounds 59 at a packed concert hall in the English city of Manchester, as crowds began leaving a concert by U.S. singer Ariana Grande.

April 7, 2017 — A truck drives into a crowd on a shopping street and crashes into a department store in central Stockholm, killing five people and wounding 15 in what police call a terrorist attack.

March 22, 2017 — An attacker stabs a policeman close to the British parliament in London after a car ploughs into pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge. Six people die, including the assailant and the policeman he stabbed, and at least 20 are injured in what police call a “marauding terrorist attack.”

German police patrol with submachine guns at the Christmas market at Breitscheid square in Berlin, Dec. 30, 2016, following an attack by a truck which ploughed through a crowd at the market.
German police patrol with submachine guns at the Christmas market at Breitscheid square in Berlin, Dec. 30, 2016, following an attack by a truck which ploughed through a crowd at the market.

Dec. 19, 2016 — A truck ploughs into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says authorities are assuming it was a terrorist attack.

July 26, 2016 — Two attackers kill a priest with a blade and seriously wound another hostage in a church in northern France before being shot dead by French police. French President Francois Hollande says the two hostage-takers had pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

July 24, 2016 — A Syrian man wounds 15 people when he blows himself up outside a music festival in Ansbach in southern Germany. Islamic State claims responsibility.

Police cars and ambulances are seen near a shopping mall in Munich on July 22, 2016 following shootings.
Police cars and ambulances are seen near a shopping mall in Munich on July 22, 2016 following shootings.

July 22, 2016 — An 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman apparently acting alone kills at least nine people in Munich. The teenager had no Islamist ties but was obsessed with mass killings. The attack was carried out on the fifth anniversary of twin attacks by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik that killed 77 people.

July 18, 2016 — A 17-year-old Afghan refugee wielding an axe and a knife attacks passengers on a train in southern Germany, severely wounding four, before being shot dead by police. Islamic State claims responsibility.

A French flag flies among the crowd as people gather in front of the Monument du Centenaire during a minute of silence on the third day of national mourning to pay tribute to victims of the truck attack along the Promenade des Anglais on Bastille Day in 2016.
A French flag flies among the crowd as people gather in front of the Monument du Centenaire during a minute of silence on the third day of national mourning to pay tribute to victims of the truck attack along the Promenade des Anglais on Bastille Day in 2016.

July 14, 2016 — A gunman drives a heavy truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice, killing 86 people and injuring scores more in an attack claimed by Islamic State. The attacker is identified as a Tunisian-born Frenchman.

June 14, 2016 — A Frenchman of Moroccan origin stabs a police commander to death outside his home in a Paris suburb and kills his partner, who also worked for the police. The attacker told police negotiators during a siege that he was answering an appeal by Islamic State.

March 22, 2016 — Three Islamic State suicide bombers, all Belgian nationals, blow themselves up at Brussels airport and in a metro train in the Belgian capital, killing 32 people. Police find links with attacks in Paris the previous November.

Nov. 13, 2015 — Paris is rocked by multiple, near simultaneous gun-and-bomb attacks on entertainment sites around the city, in which 130 people die and 368 are wounded. Islamic State claims responsibility. Two of the 10 known perpetrators were Belgian citizens and three others were French.

A french soldier patrols next to a painting of killed cartoonists, Charb at left, and at right, Honore, Wolinski, Cabu, Charb and Tignous outside satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo former office, one year after the attacks on it, in Paris, France, Jan. 7,
A french soldier patrols next to a painting of killed cartoonists, Charb at left, and at right, Honore, Wolinski, Cabu, Charb and Tignous outside satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo former office, one year after the attacks on it, in Paris, France, Jan. 7,

Jan. 7-9, 2015 — Two Islamist militants break into an editorial meeting of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Jan. 7 and rake it with bullets, killing 17. Another militant kills a policewoman the next day and takes hostages at a supermarket on Jan. 9, killing four before police shoot him dead.

May 24, 2014 — Four people are killed in a shooting at the Jewish Museum in central Brussels. The attacker was French national Mehdi Nemmouche, 29, who was subsequently arrested in Marseille, France. Extradited, he is awaiting trial in Belgium.

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    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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