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The following is a list of events for which one of the commonly accepted names includes the word "massacre".[1]
Massacre is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as "the indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people or (less commonly) animals; carnage, butchery, slaughter in numbers". It also states that the term is used "in the names of certain massacres of history".[2] The first recorded use in English of the word massacre in the name of an event is due to Christopher Marlow who in c. 1600 referred to what is now known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre as "The massacre at Paris"[3]
The purpose of the list is to trace such of the term "massacre" specifically. There are many alternative terms with similar connotations, such as butchery, carnage, bloodbath, mass killing, atrocity, etc. as well as euphemisms such as Vespers, Blutgericht or "attack", "incident", "tragedy" (etc.), use of which are outside the scope of this list. Massacre is also used figuratively to describe dramatic events that did not involve any deaths, such as the "Hilo massacre" and the "Saturday Night Massacre"; this usage is also outside of the scope of this list.
Massacres after 1945 are listed separately because of inflationary use in journalism after the turn of the 20th century.
Date | Location | Name | Deaths | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
260 BC | State of Zhao | Battle of Changping | 400,000 | Live burial of surrendered State of Zhao soldiers during Qin's wars of unification.[4] |
207 BC | Xin'an, Qin dynasty | Xin'an massacre | 200,000+ | Live burial of surrendered Qin dynasty soldiers after the Battle of Julu.[5] |
88 BC | Kingdom of Pontus | Asiatic Vespers[failed verification][6] | 80,000–150,000 | Wholesale massacre of all Roman and Italic citizens in Asia Minor, starting the Mithridatic Wars. |
61 | Anglesey, Britannia | Menai massacre[failed verification] | Unknown | Gaius Suetonius Paulinus ordered the Roman army to destroy the Celtic Druid stronghold on Anglesey in Britain, sacking Druidic colleges and sacred groves. The massacre helped impose Roman religion on Britain and sent Druidism into a decline from which it never recovered.[7][8] |
193 | Xu Province, Eastern Han dynasty | Massacre of Xuzhou | Hundred-thousands | Warlord Cao Cao invaded several cities of Xu Province after his father, Cao Song, was killed in the province. Dead bodies of civilians blocked the Si River.[9] |
390 | Thessaloniki, Macedonia | Massacre of Thessaloniki (1760)[10] | 7,000 | Emperor Theodosius I of Rome ordered the executions after the citizens of Thessaloniki murdered a top-level military commander during a violent protest against the arrest of a popular charioteer.[11][12] |
627 | Fortress of Banu Qurayza, Saudi Arabia | Massacre of Banu Qurayza (1956)[13] | 600–900 | Muhammad ordered his followers to attack the Banu Qurayza because according to Muslim tradition he had been ordered to do so by the angel Gabriel.[14][15][16][17][18][19] Muhammad had a treaty with the tribe which was betrayed. 600–900 members of the Banu Qurayza (all males old enough to have pubic hair, all of whom were non-combatants) were beheaded, while the women and children of the tribe were sold into slavery (Tabari, Ibn Ishaq).[17][18][20] Al Waqidi influence is in Ibn Ishaqs biography. Stillman and Watt deny the authenticity of al-Waqidi.[21] Al-Waqidi has been frequently criticized by Muslim Ulama, who claim that he is unreliable.[22][23] A reliable source says all the warriors were killed based on Sa'd ibn Mu'adh judgement whom was appointed by Banu Qurzaya for arbitration.[24][25][26] 2 Muslims were killed[17] |
782 | Verden, Lower Saxony, Germany | Massacre of Verden (1830)[27] | 4,500 | Charlemagne ordered the massacre of 4,500 imprisoned rebel pagan Saxons in response to losing two envoys, four counts, and twenty nobles in battle with the Saxons during his campaign to conquer and Christianize the Saxons during the Saxon Wars.[28] |
November 13, 1002 | various cities, England | St. Brice's Day massacre (1871)[29] | Unknown | King Æthelred II "the Unready" of England ordered all Danes living in England killed. The Danes were accused of aiding Viking raiders. The King of Denmark, Sweyn Forkbeard, invaded England and deposed King Ethelred in 1013.[30][31][32] |
December 30, 1066 | Granada, Al-Andalus | Massacre of the Jews of Granada (1906)[33] | 4,000 | Apparently angered by a rumour that Jewish vizier Joseph ibn Naghrela intended to assassinate the king and take the throne for himself, a Muslim mob killed him and hung his body on a cross. The mob went on to kill the Jewish population of the city.[34][35][36][37] |
1096 | Rhineland, Germany and France | Massacre of the Rhineland Jews (2015)[38] | [39] | 12,000Series of mass murders of Jews perpetrated by mobs of French and German Christians of the People's Crusade. |
1099 | Jerusalem, Fatimid Caliphate | Jerusalem Massacre [40][41] | Thousands | The culminating massacre of the First Crusade: Frankish expeditionary forces broke into besieged Jerusalem (then part of the Fatimid Caliphate) and killed Muslims and Jews. |
May 1182 | Constantinople, Byzantine Empire | Massacre of the Latins (1789)[42] | 60,000–80,000 | Wholesale massacre of all Latin (Western European) inhabitants of Constantinople by a mob. |
1209 | France | Massacre at Béziers | 15,000+ | First major military action of the Albigensian Crusade |
1282 | Kingdom of Sicily | Massacre of the French in Sicily (1695)[43] | 3,000 | Revolt against king Charles I, starting the War of the Sicilian Vespers |
mid-14th century | Crow Creek Site, Great Plains, North America | Crow Creek massacre (1978)[44][45] | [46] | 500Prehistoric massacre of Central Plains villagers in what is now South Dakota, involving scalping and dismemberment of the victims.[46][47] |
November 8, 1520 | Stockholm, Sweden | Stockholm massacre (1845)[48] | [49] | 80–90Days after his coronation in Stockholm, King Christian II of Denmark – trying to maintain the Kalmar Union, a personal union between Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and thus keep up his claims to the Swedish throne – liquidated nobles and bishops who earlier had opposed him, or who might stir up fresh opposition.[50][51][52] |
November 16, 1532 | Cajamarca, Atahualpa | Cajamarca massacre | ~2,000 | The Battle of Cajamarca was the unexpected ambush and seizure of the Inca ruler Atahualpa by a small Spanish force led by Francisco Pizarro, on November 16, 1532. The Spanish killed thousands of Atahualpa's counsellors, commanders and unarmed attendants in the great plaza of Cajamarca, and caused his armed host outside the town to flee. The capture of Atahualpa marked the opening stage of the conquest of the pre-Columbian Inca civilization of Peru. |
March 1, 1563 | Wassy, France | Massacre of Vassy | 63 | The murder of Huguenot worshipers and citizens in an armed action by troops of Francis, Duke of Guise. |
1570 | Cyprus | Cyprus massacre | [53][54][55][56] | 30,000–50,000Ottoman forces capturing Cyprus killed mostly Greek and Armenian Christian inhabitants. |
August 23, 1572 | Paris, France | Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day (1835) "Massacre at Paris" (1600)[57] |
[58] | 5,000–70,000The French King's soldiers and subjects slaughtered Huguenots; it was the first massacre to be labeled by that word in the English language.[58][59][60] |
October 10, 1580 | Kerry, Ireland | Massacre of Smerwick (1824) Smerwick massacre (1976)[61] |
~600 | English troops commanded by Grey de Wilton massacre Papal invasion forces at Dun an Oir in West Kerry[62] |
October 1603 | Manila, Captaincy General of the Philippines | Chinese massacre of 1603 | [63] | 15,000–25,000Fearing an uprising by the large Chinese community in the Philippines, the Spanish colonists carried out a preemptive massacre, largely in the Manila area, in October 1603. |
March 22, 1622 | Jamestown, Virginia | Jamestown massacre[64][65] | 347 | The Powhatans killed 347 settlers, almost one-third of the English population of the Virginia colony. |
May 26, 1637 | Mystic, Connecticut | Fort Mystic massacre (1910)[66] | 400–700 | English settlers under Captain John Mason and Narragansett and Mohegan allies set fire to a fortified Pequot village near the Mystic River. |
November 1639 | Luzon, Captaincy General of the Philippines | "Chinese massacre of 1639" (1961)[67] | [63] | 17,000–22,000The Spanish and their Filipino allies carried out a large-scale massacre, in which 17,000 to 22,000 Chinese rebels died. |
1641 | Ulster, Ireland | Ulster massacres | 4,000–12,000 | The Ulster Massacres were a series of massacres and resulting deaths amongst the ~40,000 Protestant settlers which took place in 1641 during the Irish Rebellion.[68][69][70] |
November 1641 | Portadown, Ireland | Portadown massacre | ~100 | The Portadown massacre took place in November 1641 at what is now Portadown, County Armagh. Up to 100 mostly English Protestants were killed in the River Bann by a group of armed Irishmen. This was the biggest massacre of Protestant colonists during the 1641–42 uprising.[71] |
May 28, 1644 | Bolton, England | Bolton massacre | 200–1,600 | Royalist forces killed many of the town's defenders and citizens.[72][73][74] |
1645 | Yangzhou, China | Yangzhou massacre | Up to 800,000 | Qing troops killed residents of Yangzhou as punishment for resistance[75][76] |
1645–46[77] | Sichuan, China | Sichuan massacre | 1,000,000 est.[77] | There is no reliable figure, but estimated 1 million out of 3 million Sichuanese died mainly due to the massacre by army of Zhang Xianzhong.[77] |
1646 | Dunoon, Scotland | Dunoon massacre | 71 | The Clan Campbell after receiving requested hospitality according to custom, slaughtered their Lamont Clan hosts in their beds and threw their bodies down the well to poison the water should they have missed anyone. |
February 13, 1692 | Scotland | Massacre of Glencoe[78] | [79] | 38Government soldiers, mainly from Clan Campbell, killed members of the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe.[79] |
October 16, 1755 | Snyder County, Pennsylvania | Penn's Creek massacre | [80] | 14A group of Indians attacked settlers on Penn's Creek. |
May 10, 1768 | Southwark in South London | Massacre of St George's Fields | 7 | British troops fired at a mob that was protesting at the imprisonment of John Wilkes, whose crime was criticizing King George III. |
March 5, 1770 | Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay | Boston Massacre [81] |
[82] | 5British troops fired at a mob of colonists. This helped spark the American Revolution even though an all-colonist jury found the soldiers innocent.[83][84] |
July 17, 1771 | Kugluktuk, Nunavut | Bloody Falls massacre | [85] | 20Chipewyan warriors attacked an Inuit camp, killing men, women and children.[86][87][88] |
September 28, 1778 | River Vale, New Jersey | Baylor Massacre | [89] | 15British infantry troops attacked sleeping Continental Light Dragoons using bayonets.[89] |
October 15, 1778 | Tuckerton, New Jersey | Little Egg Harbor massacre | 30–50 | British loyalists bayonetted Continental Light Dragoons as they slept. |
May 29, 1780 | Lancaster, South Carolina | Waxhaw massacre | [90] | 113Loyalist troops under the command of British Colonel Banastre Tarleton slashed and bayoneted fallen American troops during the late stages of the Battle of Waxhaws. Conflicting contemporary accounts claim violation of an American white flag by one or the other of the sides involved.[91] |
September 11, 1780 | Luzerne County, Pennsylvania | Sugarloaf massacre | [92] | 15A group of loyalists and Indians during the American Revolutionary War led by Roland Montour attacked a group of American soldiers. |
February 24, 1781 | Alamance County, North Carolina | Pyle's Massacre | 93 | Patriot militia leader Colonel Henry Lee deceived Loyalist militia under Dr. John Pyle into thinking he was British commander Banastre Tarleton sent to meet them. Lee's men then opened fire, surprising and scattering Pyle's force. |
March 8, 1782 | Gnadenhutten, Ohio | Gnadenhutten massacre[93] (Moravian massacre) |
96 | Pennsylvania militia men attacked a Moravian mission and killed 96 peaceful Christian American Indians there in retaliation for unrelated deaths of several white Pennsylvanians.[93][94] |
1792 | France | September Massacres[95][96] | ~1,440 | Popular courts in the French Revolution sentenced prisoners to death, including around 240 priests.[97] |
1794 | Warsaw, Poland | Massacre of Praga | 20,000 | Inhabitants of the Warsaw district Praga were massacred by pillaging Russian troops following the Battle of Praga. |
1804 | Haiti | 1804 Haiti massacre | 3,000–5,000 | Massacre of French people in Haiti. |
December 1809 | Whangaroa, New Zealand | Boyd massacre | 66 | Whangaroa Māori killed and ate 66 crew and passengers on board the Boyd.[98] |
April 1812 | Badajoz, Spain | Siege of Badajoz (1812) | 66 | Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army massacres approximately 4,000 Spanish civilians while sacking the city.[98] |
December 9, 1817 | Madulla, Central Province, Sri Lanka | Madulla massacre | 22 | British troops killed 22 unarmed native civilians who were hiding in a cave.[99][100] |
1818 | Uva Province, Sri Lanka | Uva–Wellassa massacre | Unknown | The 1818 Uva–Wellassa uprising also known as the Great Rebellion resulted in multiple atrocities against the local Sri Lankans by the British imperialists, including razing and annihilation of villages. The entire Uva region male population above the age of 18 years were killed in revenge for resistance against the British imperialist occupation.[101][102] |
August 16, 1819 | Manchester, England | Peterloo Massacre | [98] | 11cavalry charged a meeting of 60,000–80,000 people campaigning for reform of parliamentary representation.[98] |
March 1821 | Constantinople | Constantinople Massacre of 1821 | Unknown | Hundreds of Greeks were massacred by the Ottomans, including the Greek patriarch, bishops and officials. |
August 19, 1821 | Navarino, Peloponnese, Greece | Navarino massacre | [103] | 3,000The whole Turkish population of Navarino, which was around 3000, were killed by Greeks.[103] |
1822 | Chios, Greece | Chios massacre | ~52,000 | Tens of thousands of Greeks on the island of Chios were slaughtered by Ottoman troops in 1822. |
December 28, 1835 | Florida, United States | Dade massacre | 108 | Two U.S. Army companies under the command of Major Francis L. Dade were marching from Fort Brooke (Tampa) to Fort King (Ocala) when they were attacked by about 200 Seminoles. One hundred and eight soldiers were killed; only two men from the command survived. |
March 27, 1836 | Goliad, Texas | Goliad massacre | ~400 | Around 400 Texians killed by Santa Anna's Mexican Army Presidio la Bahia Goliad Palm Sunday March 27, 1836. |
January 1838 | Waterloo Creek, Australia | Waterloo Creek massacre[104] | 100–300 | Aboriginal Australians killed by a force of colonial mounted police.[105] |
June 10, 1838 | Myall Creek, Australia | Myall Creek massacre[104] | 28 | A mainly white posse (one of whom was a black African) killed Aboriginal Australians. The perpetrators were convicted and sentenced to death.[106] |
October 5, 1838 | Cherokee County, Republic of Texas | Killough massacre[107] | 18 | In the largest attack by Native Americans on white settlers in Texas, a disaffected band of Cherokee, Caddo, Coushatta, and perhaps other ethnicities formed a war party and killed 18 members of the extended Killough family, who had settled in the area after the Senate of the Republic of Texas nullified the (land) treaty which President Sam Houston had negotiated with the Cherokee. |
October 30, 1838 | Caldwell County, Missouri, United States | Haun's Mill massacre[108] | 19 | About 240 Livingston County Missouri Regulators militiamen and volunteers killed 18 Mormons and one non-Mormon friend.[109][110] |
1840 | Gippsland, Australia | Gippsland massacres[111] | citation needed] | ~450[A series of massacres spanning several years: 1840 – Nuntin, 1840 – Boney Point, 1841 – Butchers Creek – 30–35, 1841 – Maffra, 1842 – Skull Creek, 1842 – Bruthen Creek – "hundreds killed", 1843 – Warrigal Creek – between 60 and 180 shot, 1844 – Maffra, 1846 – South Gippsland – 14 killed, 1846 – Snowy River – 8 killed, 1846–47 – Central Gippsland – 50 or more shot, 1850 – East Gippsland – 15–20 killed, 1850 – Murrindal – 16 poisoned, 1850 – Brodribb River – 15–20 killed.[citation needed] See also Angus McMillan. |
January 6, 1842 | Afghanistan | Massacre of Elphinstone's army | 16,000 | Afghan tribes massacred Elphinstone's British army including some 12,000 civilians.[112][113][114] |
April 8, 1857 | Caborca, Sonora, Mexico | Crabb massacre | 84 | Mexican rebels fight American rebels at Caborca, Sonora. Out of less than ninety Americans, about thirty were killed in battle and the rest were executed by the Mexicans. |
September 11, 1857 | Mountain Meadows, Utah, United States | Mountain Meadows massacre | [115][116] | 120–140Mormon militia, some dressed as Indians, and Paiute tribesmen killed and plundered unarmed members of the Baker-Fancher emigrant wagon train.[117] |
January 18, 1863 | Madison County, North Carolina, United States | Shelton Laurel massacre | 13 | Thirteen boys and men, accused of being Union sympathizers and spies, were summarily executed by members of the 64th North Carolina Regiment of the Confederate Army.[118] |
January 29, 1863 | Washington Territory near present day Preston, Idaho United States | Bear River massacre | [119] | ~2253rd Regiment California Volunteer Infantry destroyed a village of Shoshone in southeastern Idaho.[120] |
August 21, 1863 | Lawrence, Kansas, United States | Lawrence massacre | [121][122] | ~150Pro-Confederate bushwhackers attacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas during the American Civil War in retaliation for the Union attack on Osceola, Missouri.[123][124] |
April 12, 1864 | Henning, Tennessee, United States | Fort Pillow massacre | [125] | 350After their surrender following the Battle of Fort Pillow, most of the Union garrison – consisting primarily of Black troops – as well as civilians, including women and children, were massacred by Confederate forces under the command of General Nathan Bedford Forrest.[126][127][128][129] |
November 29, 1864 | Kiowa County, Colorado, United States | Sand Creek massacre | [130] | ~200Colorado Territory 90-day militia destroyed a peaceful village of Cheyenne and Arapaho on the eastern plains.[131][132] |
November 27, 1868 | Indian Territory, United States | Washita Massacre (1938)[133] | 29–150 | Lt. Col. G.A.Custer's 7th cavalry attacked a village of sleeping Cheyenne led by Black Kettle. Custer reported 103 – later revised to 140 – warriors, "some" women and "few" children killed, and 53 women and children taken hostage. Other casualty estimates by cavalry members, scouts and Indians vary widely, with the number of men killed ranging as low as 11 and the numbers of women and children ranging as high as 75. Before returning to their base, the cavalry killed several hundred Indian ponies and burned the village.[134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144] |
1870 | Tianjin, China | Tianjin Massacre | 60 | Attacks on French Catholic priests and nuns, violent belligerence from French diplomats, and armed foreign intervention in Tianjin. |
October 24, 1871 | Los Angeles California, United States | Chinese massacre of 1871[145] | 17–20 | A mob of over 500 men entered Chinatown in Los Angeles, rioted, ransacked, then tortured and killed 18 Chinese-Americans, making this among the largest mass lynchings in American history.[146] |
April 30, 1876 | Batak Ottoman Empire | Batak massacre[147][148][149] | 3,000–5,000 | Ottoman army irregulars killed Bulgarian civilians barricaded in Batak's church.[150] |
April 2, 1885 | Frog Lake, North-West Territories, Canada | Frog Lake Massacre | 9 | Cree warriors, dissatisfied with the lack of support from the Canadian Government for Treaty Indians, and exacerbated by food shortages resulting from the near-extinction of bison, killed nine white settlers, including Indian agent Thomas Quinn.[151][152] |
September 2, 1885 | Rock Springs, Wyoming, United States | Rock Springs massacre | 28 | Rioting white immigrant miners killed 28 Chinese miners, wounded 15, and 75 Chinese homes burned.[153][154][155] |
December 29, 1890 | Wounded Knee, South Dakota, United States | Wounded Knee Massacre | [156] | 200–300The U.S. 7th Cavalry intercepted a band of Lakota people on their way to the Pine Ridge Reservation for shelter from the winter; as they were disarming them, a gun was fired, and the soldiers turned their artillery on the Lakota, killing men women and children.[157][158] |
1894–1896 | Armenian Highlands, Ottoman Empire | Hamidian massacres | [159] | 100,000–300,000
Sultan Abdul Hamid II ordered Ottoman forces to kill Armenians across the empire.[159][160][161] |
1895 | Gutian County, China | Kucheng massacre | 11 | Members of a Chinese cult attacked British missionaries, killing eleven people and destroying two houses. |
September 10, 1897 | Pennsylvania, United States | Lattimer massacre | 19 | Unarmed striking miners were shot in the back: many were wounded and 19 were killed. |
January 18, 1900 | Guaymas, Mexico | Mazocoba massacre | ~400 | Mexican Army troops attack Yaqui hostiles west of Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico. |
July 17, 1900 | Blagoveshchensk and Sixty-Four Villages East of the River | Blagoveshchensk massacre and Sixty-Four Villages East of the River massacre | 7,000 | The Russian Empire invaded the two cities ruled by the Qing Dynasty. A total of 7,000 innocent Chinese civilians were killed in the massacres. |
January 31, 1902 | Leliefontein, Northern Cape, South Africa | Leliefontein massacre[162] | 35 | During the Second Boer War, Boer forces under Manie Maritz massacred 35 Khoikhoi for being British sympathisers. |
March 10, 1906 | Bud Dajo, Jolo Island, Philippines | Moro Crater massacre[163][164] | 800–1,000 | A U.S. Army force of 540 soldiers under the command of Major General Leonard Wood, accompanied by a naval detachment and with a detachment of native constabulary, armed with artillery and small firearms, attacked a Muslim village hidden in the crater of a dormant volcano.[165] |
December 21, 1907 | Chile | Santa María School massacre | citation needed] | 2,200–3,600[A massacre of striking workers, mostly saltpeter (nitrate) miners, along with wives and children, committed by the Chilean Army in Iquique, Chile. It occurred during the peak of the nitrate mining era, which coincided with the Parliamentary Period in Chilean political history (1891–1925). With the massacre and an ensuing reign of terror, not only was the strike broken, but the workers' movement was thrown into limbo for over a decade.[citation needed] |
April–May 1909 | Adana Province, Ottoman Empire | Adana massacre | 15,000–30,000 | In April 1909, a religious-ethnic clash in the city of Adana, amidst governmental upheaval, resulted in a series of anti-Armenian pogroms throughout the district, resulting in an estimated 15,000 to 30,000 deaths.[166][167][168][169][170] |
April 20, 1914 | Ludlow, Colorado, United States | Ludlow massacre | 20 | Twenty people, 11 of them children, died during an attack by the Colorado National Guard on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado. The event led to wider conflict quelled only by Federal troops sent in by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson.[171][172][173] |
April 28 – May 3, 1918 | Vyborg, Finland | Vyborg massacre | 360–420 | At least 360 mostly Russian military personnel and civilians were killed after the Finnish Civil War Battle of Vyborg by the Finnish Whites. The victims include a large number of other nationalities which the Whites presumed as Russians. The killed were not affiliated with the Reds, but most were even White supporters. Also 450–1,200 captured Finnish Red Guard fighters were executed.[174] |
April 13, 1919 | Amritsar, India | Jallianwala Bagh massacre | [175][full citation needed][176][177] | 379–1,52690 British Indian Army soldiers, led by Brigadier Reginald Dyer, opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children. The firing lasted for 10 to 15 minutes, until they ran out of ammunition.[176][177] |
November 21, 1920 | Dublin, Ireland | Croke Park massacre | [178] | 23British Auxiliary police and Black and Tans fired at Gaelic football spectators at Croke Park.[178][179] |
May 31– June 1, 1921 | Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States | Tulsa Race Riot | [180] | 100–300Mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses of the Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma. |
January 1923 | Rosewood, Florida, United States | Rosewood massacre | 8 | Several days of violence by white mobs, ranging in size up to 400 people, resulted in the deaths of six blacks and two whites and the destruction of the town of Rosewood, which was abandoned after the incident.[181] |
June 23, 1925 | Eastern Jiaochang, China | Shaji massacre | ~50 | A group of strikers in Canton, China, in support of a workers' strike in Hong Kong, were fired upon by British troops, who claimed to have been provoked by gunfire. Over 200 casualties resulted. |
May 30, 1925 | Shanghai, China | Shanghai massacre of 1925 | 30–200 | British Shanghai Municipal Police opened fire on Chinese protesters. |
April 12, 1927 | Shanghai and other locations, China | Shanghai Massacre | 300–5000 | KMT elements carried out a full-scale purge of Communists in all areas under their control. |
November 21, 1927 | Serene, Colorado | Columbine Mine massacre (1928)[182] | 6 | In a fight between Colorado state police and a striking coal miners, the police used firearms, killing six and wounding dozens. The miners claimed that machine guns were fired at them, which was denied by the state police. |
May 18, 1927 | Bath Township, Michigan, United States | Bath School massacre (1981)[183] | 45 | 37 children and a 30-year-old teacher at Bathtown elementary school were killed by a major explosion set off by school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe. About a half hour after the explosion, Kehoe then detonated dynamite in his truck, killing himself and five others, including a fourth grader and four adults. Also, some hours before the event, Kehoe killed his wife at their Bath Township home. This event was the deadliest mass murder in a school in United States history. |
August 14, 1928 | Coniston, Central Australia, Australia | Coniston massacre (1981)[184] | 31–170 | The last known officially sanctioned massacre of indigenous Australians which took place in the vicinity of Coniston cattle station in the Territory of Central Australia, Australia in revenge for the death of a dingo hunter named Frederick Brooks. |
December 6, 1928 | Ciénaga, Magdalena, Colombia | Banana massacre | 47–2,000 | The Banana massacre was a massacre of workers for the United Fruit Company that occurred on December 6, 1928 in the town of Ciénaga near Santa Marta, Colombia. An unknown number of workers died after the Conservative government of Miguel Abadía decided to send the Colombian army to end a month-long strike organized by the workers' union in order to secure better working conditions. The government of the United States of America had threatened to invade with the U.S. Marine Corps if the Colombian government did not act to protect United Fruit's interests. |
February 14, 1929 | Chicago, United States | Saint Valentine's Day massacre | [185] | 7Al Capone's gang shot rival gang members and their associates.[186] |
August 1929 | Hebron, Mandatory Palestine | 1929 Hebron massacre | [187] | 69Arabs kill 69 Jews after being incited by religious leaders. Survivors were relocated to Jerusalem, "leaving Hebron barren of Jews for the first time in hundreds of years."[187] |
August 1929 | Safed, Mandatory Palestine | 1929 Safed massacre | [188] | 18Arabs killed 18 Jews, wounded around 40, and some 200 houses were burned and looted.[189] |
April 23, 1930 | Peshawar, British Raj | Qissa Khwani bazaar massacre | [190][191] | 200–250Soldiers of the British Raj fired on unarmed non-violent protestors of the Khudai Khidmatgar with machine guns during the Indian independence movement[190][191] |
July 1930 | Van Province, Turkey | Zilan massacre | [192][193] | 4,500–47,000Turkish troops massacred Kurdish residents during the Ararat rebellion. |
August 1933 | Iraq | Simele massacre | [194] | 3,000Iraqi Army killed 3,000 Assyrian men, women and children.[194] The massacre, amongst other things, included rape, cars running over children and bayoneting children and pregnant women.[194] |
March 21, 1937 | Ponce, Puerto Rico | Ponce massacre | [195] | 19The Insular Police fired on unarmed Nationalist demonstrators peacefully marching to commemorate the ending of slavery in Puerto Rico.[195] It was the biggest massacre in Puerto Rican history.[196] |
October 2–8, 1937 | Dominican Republic | Parsley massacre | [197] | Up to 38,000The Dominican military used machetes to brutally slash people to death and decapitate thousands of black Haitians; they also took people to the port of Montecristi, where thousands of Haitians were thrown into the ocean to drown with their hands and feet bound. Their executioners often inflicted wounds on their bodies before throwing them overboard in order to attract sharks. Survivors who managed to cross the border and return to Haiti told stories of family members being hacked with machetes and strangled by the soldiers, and children dashed against rocks and tree trunks.[198] |
1937–38 | Tunceli Province, Turkey | Dersim massacre | [199][200] | 13,160–70,000Turkish troops massacred Alevi residents during the Dersim Rebellion. |
December 1937 – January 1938 | Nanjing, China | Nanking Massacre[201][202] |
[203] | 300,000+The Imperial Japanese Army pillaged and burned Nanking while, at the same time, murdering, enslaving, raping, and torturing prisoners-of-war and civilians.[204] |
April–May 1940 | Katyn, Soviet Union | Katyn massacre | [205][206][207] | 21,857–25,700Soviet NKVD executed Polish intelligentsia, POWs and reserve officers.[208][209] |
27 May 1940 | Le Paradis village, commune of Lestrem, Northern France | Le Paradis massacre | 97 | Soldiers of the 14th Company, S.S. Division Totenkopf, under the command of Hauptsturmführer Fritz Knöchlein shot prisoners-of-war during the Battle of France.[210] |
28 April 1941 | Independent State of Croatia | Gudovac massacre | [211] | 184–196The mass killing of around 190 Bjelovar Serbs by the Croatian nationalist Ustaše |
May–August 1941 | Independent State of Croatia | Glina massacres | [212] | 2,400The mass killings of Serb peasants by the Ustashe in the town of Glina, that occurred between May and August 1941 |
June–October 1941 | Soviet Union, Baltic states | NKVD prisoner massacres | [213] | 100,000+The Soviet NKVD executed thousands of political prisoners in the initial stages of Operation Barbarossa.[213][214] |
September 29, 1941 | Ukraine | Babi Yar massacre | [215] | 30,000Nazi Einsatzgruppen killed the Jewish population of Kiev.[215][216][217][218][219] |
October 20–21, 1941 | Serbia | Kragujevac massacre | 2,796–5,000 | Nazi soldiers massacred Serb and Roma hostages in retaliation for attacks on the occupying forces. |
October 22–24, 1941 | Odessa, Soviet Union | Odessa massacre | 25,000–34,000 | Romanian and German troops, supported by local authorities, massacred Jews in Odessa and the surrounding towns in Transnistria after a bomb detonated in the Romanian HQ.[220] |
November 25 and 29, 1941 | Kaunas, Lithuania | Ninth Fort massacres of November 1941 | 4,934 | The first systematic mass killings of German Jews during the Holocaust. |
November 30 and December 8, 1941 | Riga, Latvia | Rumbula massacre | 25,000 | 25,000 Jews were killed in Rumbula Forest, near Riga, Latvia, by the Nazis.[221] |
February 1942 | Laha Airfield, Ambon Island | Laha massacre | [222] | 300+The Japanese killed surrendered Australian soldiers.[222][223] |
June 10, 1942 | Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia | Lidice massacre | [224] | 340Nazis killed 192 men, and sent the women and children to Nazi concentration camps where many died.[224][225][226] |
September 21, 1943 | Kefalonia, Greece | Massacre of the Acqui Division | [227] | 5,155Wehrmacht troops executed 5,155 POWs from the Italian 33 Infantry Division Acqui after the latter refused to hand over their weapons and resisted. A further 3,000 Italian POWs drowned at sea on transports that sank after hitting mines. |
October 7, 1943 | Wake Island | Wake Island massacre | 98 | Japanese forces under Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara massacred the remaining 98 U.S. civilians in fear of the anticipation U.S. invasion of Wake Island two days after a U.S. air raid on the island.[228][229] |
December 13, 1943 | Kalavryta, Greece | Massacre of Kalavryta | 511–1,200 | The extermination of the male population and the subsequent total destruction of the town of Kalavryta, in Greece, by German occupying forces during World War II on 13 December 1943. It is the most serious case of war crimes committed during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II. |
January 27, 1944 | Chechnya, Soviet Union | Khaibakh massacre | 700 | The Khaibakh massacre refers to a report of mass execution of the ethnically Chechen population of the aul of Khaibakh, in the mountainous part of Chechnya, by Soviet forces under NKVD Colonel Mikhail Gveshiani. |
March 24, 1944 | Rome, Italy | Ardeatine massacre | 335 | Mass killing carried out by German occupation troops as a reprisal for a partisan attack conducted on the previous day in central Rome against the SS Police Regiment Bozen. |
April 1, 1944 | Ascq, France | Ascq massacre | 86 | The Waffen-SS killed 86 men after a bomb attack in the Gare d'Ascq. |
June 10, 1944 | Oradour-sur-Glane, France | Oradour-sur-Glane massacre | [230] | 642The Waffen-SS killed 642 men, women and children without giving any specific reasons for their actions.[230][231][232][233][234][235] |
June 10, 1944 | Distomo, Greece | Distomo massacre | 218 | Nazi war crime perpetrated by members of the Waffen-SS in the village of Distomo, Greece, during the Axis occupation of Greece during World War II. |
August 8, 1944 | Warsaw, Poland | Wola massacre | 40,000–100,000 | Special groups of SS and German soldiers of the Wehrmacht went from house to house in Warsaw district Wola, rounding-up and shooting all inhabitants. |
August 12, 1944 | Sant'Anna di Stazzema, Italy | Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre | 560 | Retreating SS-men of the II Battalion of SS-Panzergrenadier–Regiment 35 of 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, rounded up 560 villagers and refugees — mostly women, children and older men — shot them and then burned their bodies. |
August 4–25, 1944 | Warsaw, Poland | Ochota massacre | 10,000 | Mass murders of citizens of Warsaw district Ochota in August 1944, committed by Waffen-SS. |
August 26, 1944 | Rüsselsheim, Germany | Rüsselsheim massacre | 6 | The townspeople of Rüsselsheim killed six American POWs who were walking through the bombed-out town while escorted by two German guards. |
September 29 – October 5, 1944 | Marzabotto, Italy | Marzabotto massacre | [236] | 700–1,800The SS killed Italian civilians in reprisal for support given to the resistance movement.[236][237] |
December 1944 | Malmedy, Belgium | Malmedy massacre | 88 | Nazi Waffen-SS soldiers shot American POWs (43 escaped).[238][239] |
January 1, 1945 | Chenogne, Belgium | Chenogne massacre | 60 | German prisoners of war were shot by American soldiers in an unauthorized retaliation for the Malmedy Massacre. |
February 1945 | Manila, Philippines | Manila massacre | 100,000 | Japanese occupying forces massacred an estimated 100,000 Filipino civilians during the Battle of Manila. |
April 10, 1945 | Celle, Germany | Celle massacre[240] | 300 | Massacre of concentration camp inmates that took place in Celle at the end of the Second World War. |
May 15, 1945 | Bleiburg, Austria | Bleiburg massacre | [241] | 50,000–250,000Fleeing Croatian soldiers, members of the Chetnik movement and Slovene Home Guard associated with the fascist Ustaše Regime of Croatia were apprehended by Yugoslav Partisans at the Austrian border. Among those killed were an unknown number of civilians. |
May 1945 | Sétif, Algeria | Sétif massacre | 6,000 | Muslim villages were bombed by French aircraft and the cruiser Duguay-Trouin standing off the coast, in the Gulf of Bougie, shelled Kerrata. Pied noir vigilantes lynched prisoners taken from local gaols or randomly shot Muslims[242][243][244] |
July 31, 1945 | Ústí nad Labem, today Czech republic | Ústí massacre | 80–2,700 | The Ústí massacre (Czech: Ústecký masakr, German: Massaker von Aussig) was a lynching of ethnic Germans in Ústí nad Labem (German: Aussig an der Elbe), a largely ethnic German city in northern Bohemia ("Sudetenland") shortly after the end of the World War II, on July 31, 1945. |
Date | Location | Name | Deaths | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
February 28, 1947 | Taiwan | February 28 Incident (February 28 massacre)[248][249] | 5,000–28,000 | It was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan, and was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang government. |
May 1, 1947 | Piana degli Albanesi, Italy | Portella della Ginestra massacre | 11 | 11 people were killed and 27 wounded during May Day celebrations in Sicily on May 1, 1947, in the municipality of Piana degli Albanesi, by the bandit and separatist leader Salvatore Giuliano and his band. |
December 9, 1947 | Balongsari, Karawang, West Java, Indonesia | Rawagede massacre | 431 | Almost all men in the Indonesian village of Rawagede (modern-day Balongsari) were killed in retaliation by the KNIL, having refused to disclose the location of a wanted Indonesian independence fighter, Lukas Kustaryo. Most estimates place the number at 431. |
December 30, 1947 | Haifa, Mandatory Palestine | Haifa Oil Refinery massacre | 39 | Irgun throws a bomb on a group of 100 Palestinian refinery workers, killing 6 and wounding 42. Palestinian workers then attack Jewish refinery workers in retaliation, resulting in 39 deaths and 49 injuries,[250] |
December 31, 1947 | Haifa, Mandatory Palestine | Balad al-Shaykh massacre | 17–71 | Haganah attacks residents of Palestinian Balad al-Shaykh village, killing 21 while residents were asleep. |
April 3, 1948 | Jeju island, South Korea | Jeju massacre | [251]–60,000[252] | 14,000Brutal suppression of an uprising. Many Communist sympathizer civilians were killed by South Korean troops while putting down the rebellion. Between 14,000 and 60,000 people died during the uprising.[252] |
April 9, 1948 | Deir Yassin, Mandatory Palestine | Deir Yassin massacre | 107–254 | The Deir Yassin massacre took place when the Irgun and Lehi militant groups attacked the Palestinian Arab village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, population of 750. Fatalities were estimated between 107–254 villagers, including civilian men, women, and children.[253] |
April 13, 1948 | Mount Scopus, Mandatory Palestine | Hadassah medical convoy massacre | 79 | Convoy, escorted by Haganah militia, bringing medical and fortification supplies and personnel to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus was ambushed by Arab forces. 78 Jews, mainly doctors and nurses, were killed in the ambush.[254] |
May 13, 1948 | Kfar Etzion, Mandatory Palestine | Kfar Etzion massacre | 157 | Arab armed forces attacked a Jewish kibbutz the day before the Declaration of Independence of the state of Israel[255][256] |
July 11, 1948 | Lydda, Mandatory Palestine | 1948 Palestinian exodus from Lydda and Ramle#Massacre in Lydda (Dahamsh Mosque massacre) | 250–426 | Over 150 Palestinian civilians had taken shelter in the Dahamsh Mosque during the Israeli conquest of Lydda (today's Lod) when an Israeli soldier dug a hole in the wall of the mosque and shot an anti-tank shell through it. All were crushed against the walls by the pressure from the blast and killed.[257] Also killed were 20 more after cleaning up the scene of the massacre. More civilians were killed as Israeli soldiers of the 89th Brigade, led by Moshe Dayan, throw grenades inside Palestinian houses, and those who fled to the streets were shot at by Israeli forces. Almost the entire population of Lydda, about 50,000 civilians at the time, which included many refugees, were then expelled and hundreds of men, women and children died due to dehydration, exhaustion and disease during a "death march" to the Arab front lines.[258] |
August 12, 1948 | Charsadda, Pakistan | Babrra massacre | 600+[259] | The Pakistani police and militia forces killed more than 600 unarmed Pashtuns, who were supporters of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement, and injured more than 1200 others on Babrra ground in the Hashtnagar region in Charsadda District, North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan.[259] |
October 29, 1948 | Al-Dawayima, Mandatory Palestine | Al-Dawayima massacre | 80–200 | The killing of civilians by the Israeli army (IDF) that took place in the Palestinian Arab town of al-Dawayima on during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[260][261] |
October 29 | Safsaf, Palestine | Safsaf massacre | 52–64 | The Israeli army (IDF) killed Palestinian civilians using two platoons of armored cars.[262][263] |
October 30, 1948 | Eilabun, Israel | Eilabun massacre | 14 | Israeli army kills 14 Palestinian Christians from the Eilaboun village, in north Israel, and expels the rest of the residents to Lebanon. Part of the community returns some months thereafter, due to pressure from the United Nations and the Vatican. |
October 31 – November 1, 1948 | Hula, Lebanon | Hula massacre | 35–58 | Hula is a Lebanese Shi'a Muslim village near the Lebanese Litani River. It was captured by the Carmeli Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces without any resistance. 35–58 captured men were reportedly shot down in a house which was later blown up on top of them. Two officers were responsible for the massacre; one served a one-year prison sentence and later received presidential amnesty. Shmuel Lahis was later to become Director General of the Jewish Agency.[264][265] |
December 12, 1948 | Batang Kali, Malaya | Batang Kali massacre | 24 | Villagers were purportedly shot by British troops before the village was burnt.[266][267][268] |
December 24, 1949 | Mungyeong, South Korea | Mungyeong massacre | [269][270] | 86–88Communist sympathizer civilians were killed by South Korean troops. |
June 28, 1950 | South Korea | Bodo League massacre | [271][272] | 100,000–200,000During the Korean War, communist sympathizer civilians or prisoners were killed by South Korean troops. Some scholars insist that the number of victims is between 100,000 and 200,000,[273] but the confirmed number by Truth and Reconciliation Commission(2005) is 4,934. |
June 28, 1950 | Seoul, South Korea | Seoul National University Hospital massacre | [274] | 900During the Korean War, medical personnels, inpatients and wounded soldiers were killed by North Korean troops. There were 900 victims.[274] |
July 26–29, 1950 | No Gun Ri, South Korea | No Gun Ri massacre | 163–400 | Early in the Korean War, South Korean refugees trying to cross U.S. lines at No Gun Ri were killed by U.S. troops fearing North Korean infiltrators. In 2005, the South Korean government certified the names of 150 dead, 13 missing and 55 wounded, some of whom died of wounds, and said reports on many more victims were not filed.[275] The South Korean government-funded No Gun Ri Peace Foundation estimated in 2011 that 250–300 were killed, mostly women and children. [276] Survivors estimated 400 dead.[277] |
August 14, 1950 | Waegwan, South Korea | Hill 303 massacre | [278] | 41During the Korean War, American POWs were massacred by North Korean Army on August 14, 1950.[278] |
October 1950 – early 1951 | Namyangju, North Korea | Namyangju massacre | [279] | 460During the Korean War, South Korean citizens were massacred by South Korean police between October 1950 and early 1951.[280][281] |
October 9–31, 1950 | Goyang, South Korea | Goyang Geumjeong Cave massacre | [282] | 153During the Korean War, South Korean civilians were massacred by South Korean police between October 9 to October 31, 1950.[282] |
October 17 – December 7, 1950 | Sinchon, North Korea | Sinchon Massacre | [279] | 30,000The North Korean government claims that North Korean citizens were massacred by United States forces between October 17 to December 7, 1950.[279] This is widely disputed. |
January 6–9, 1951 | Ganghwa, South Korea | Ganghwa massacre | [283][284] | 212–1,300During the Korean War, Communist collaborator civilians were massacred by South Korean forces, South Korean Police forces and pro-South Korea forces militia. |
February 7, 1951 | Sancheong and Hamyang, South Korea | Sancheong and Hamyang massacre | [285] | 705During the Korean War, Communist sympathizer civilians were massacred by South Korean Army on February 7, 1951.[285] |
February 9–11, 1951 | Geochang, South Korea | Geochang massacre | [286] | 719During the Korean War, Communist sympathizer civilians were massacred by South Korean Army between February 9 and February 11, 1951.[286] |
March 26, 1953 | Lari near Nairobi, Kenya | Lari massacre | ~150 | About 150 Kikuyu were killed by fellow tribesmen.[287][288] |
October 14, 1953 | Qibya, West Bank, Palestine | Qibya massacre | 69+ | Also known as the Qibya incident, occurred during "Operation Shoshana" when Israeli troops under Ariel Sharon attacked the village of Qibya in the West Bank. At least sixty-nine Palestinian villagers were killed, two-thirds of them women and children. |
October 29, 1956 | Kafr Qasim, Israel | Kafr Qasim massacre | 48–49 | Israeli Border Police shoot Israeli Arab farmers returning to their village from work, unaware of a curfew imposed on it. The police command ordered that civilians caught disobeying the curfew be shot. Over half the casualties were women and children. |
March 21, 1960 | Sharpeville, South Africa | Sharpeville massacre | [289] | 72–90South African police shot down black protesters.[290] |
June 16, 1960 | Mueda, Mozambique | Mueda massacre | 200–325 | Makonde nationalists organized a demonstration in front of the Mueda District headquarters on the Mueda town square demanding independence from Portugal, apparently the district administrator had invited them to present their grievances.[291] The administrator ordered the leaders arrested, and the crowd protested.[292] The Portuguese administrator ordered his pre-assembled troops to fire on the crowd,[293] and then many more were thrown to their death into a ravine.[294] The number of dead is in dispute.[295] However, resentment generated by these events led ultimately to independentist guerrilla FRELIMO gaining needed momentum in the outset of the Mozambican War of Independence.[292][293] |
October 17, 1961 | Paris, France | Paris massacre of 1961 | 200–325 | French police, commanded by Maurice Papon, crushed a pacific demonstration of Algerians independentists. |
June 2, 1962 | Novocherkassk, Soviet Union | Novocherkassk massacre | [296][297] | 23–70The MVD open fire on a crowd of protesters demonstrating against inflation.[298] |
July 5, 1962 | Oran, Algeria | Oran massacre of 1962 | [299] | 95Massacre of civilians including Europeans by an angry mob at the end of the Algerian War (1954–62). |
December 28, 1962 | Dominican Republic | Liborista massacre | 600 | The Dominican military dropped napalm on the Liboristas from airplanes – burning six hundred people to death. |
1965 - 1966 | Indonesia | Indonesian massacres of 1965–1966 | 400,000–3,000,000 | Massacre of those accused of being communists in Indonesia. |
August 1, 1966 | Austin, Texas, United States | University of Texas massacre | 16 | University of Texas at Austin was the site of a massacre by Charles Whitman, who killed his mother and wife at their homes before killing 15 and wounding 32 others at the University atop the university tower before the police killed him. |
October 9, 1966 | Binh Tai village in Phước Bình District of Sông Bé Province, South Vietnam | Binh Tai Massacre | [300] | 68South Korean soldiers purportedly killed 68 South Vietnamese villagers.[300] |
December 3–6, 1966 | Binh Hoa village in Quảng Ngãi Province, South Vietnam | Bình Hòa massacre | [301][302] | 422–430South Korean soldiers purportedly killed South Vietnamese villagers.[301] |
January 31 – February 28, 1968 | Huế, South Vietnam | Massacre at Huế | [303] | 2,800–6,000During the 1968 Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War, unarmed South Vietnamese civilians were massacred by North Vietnamese Army and Vietcong. Numerous mass graves were discovered in and around Huế after the Offensive. Victims included women, men, children, and infants.[304] Estimated death toll was between 2,800 - 6,000 civilians and POWs.[305] The Republic of Vietnam released a list of 4,062 victims identified as having been either murdered or abducted.[306][307] Victims were found bound, tortured, and often buried alive.[308][309][310] Many victims were also clubbed to death.[311] |
March 18, 1968 | Corregidor, Philippines | Jabidah massacre | 11–200 | The Jabidah massacre was the killing of Moro soldiers by members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on March 18, 1968.[312][313][314] |
February 12, 1968 | Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat hamlets, Dien Ban District of Quảng Nam Province, South Vietnam |
Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat massacre | [315] | 79South Korean soldiers killed unarmed South Vietnamese villagers. |
February 25, 1968 | Hà My village, Quảng Nam Province, South Vietnam | Hà My massacre | [316] | 135South Korean soldiers purportedly killed unarmed South Vietnamese villagers. |
March 16, 1968 | Mỹ Lai and Mỹ Khê hamlets, Sơn Mỹ, Quảng Ngãi, South Vietnam |
My Lai Massacre | [317] | 347–504U.S. soldiers murdered, tortured and assaulted 347–504 unarmed South Vietnamese villagers suspected of aiding the Vietcong, ranging in ages from 1–81 years, mostly women and children.[317][318] |
October 2, 1968 | Mexico City, Mexico | Tlatelolco massacre | [319][320] | 25–250Government troops massacred between 25 (officially) and 250 (according to human rights activists, CIA documents[321] and independent investigations) students 10 days before the 1968 Summer Olympics taking place in Mexico City, and then tried to wash the blood away, along with evidence of the massacre.[320][322] |
May 4, 1970 | Kent State University, Ohio, United States | Kent State massacre | [323] | 429 members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed students protesting the expansion of the Vietnam War into Cambodia on the Kent State University college campus, killing 4 and wounding 9, one of whom was permanently paralyzed.[323][324][325] |
May 15, 1971 | Barisal District, East Pakistan | Ketnar Bil massacre | 500+ | Massacre of unarmed Bengali Hindus in Ketnar Bil region of Barisal District by the Pakistan Army. |
June 10, 1971 | Mexico City, Mexico | Corpus Christi massacre | Unknown (officially); 120 (according to independent investigations) | Similar to the Tlatelolco Massacre, the Corpus Christi Massacre took place on Thursday, June 10, 1971 when a student march got brutally attacked by a shock group called Los Halcones. |
January 30, 1972 | Derry, Northern Ireland | Bogside massacre (31 January 1972)[326] | [327] | 14British paratroopers fired on unarmed civil rights protesters, killing 14.[328] The government sponsored Saville Report, released in June 2010, found all those killed were innocent civil rights demonstrators, prompting an apology by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. As of that time, no one had been prosecuted for the killings.[329] |
May 30, 1972 | Lod, Israel | Lod Airport massacre | [330] | 26Three members of the Japanese Red Army, on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, killed 26 people and injured 80 others at Tel Aviv's Lod airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport).[330][331][332][333][334] |
September 5, 1972 | Munich, Germany | Munich massacre[335] | [336] | 12Members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and killed by the Palestinian Black September group. A West German police officer was also killed. |
May 25, 1973 | Ezeiza, Argentina | Ezeiza massacre[337] | [337] | 13Members of the right wing of the Peronist party shot and killed at least 13 after Peron's return to Argentina. |
February 7, 1974 | Jolo, Sulu, Philippines | Battle of Jolo (1974)[338] | [338]–50,000 | 20,000Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines looted and burned the southern Philippine town of Jolo, Sulu and killed many of its Muslim Tausug inhabitants while leaving many more homeless after an engagement with the Moro rebels. |
May 15, 1974 | Ma'alot, Israel | Ma'alot massacre[339][340] | [340] | 29Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine infiltrate Israel from Lebanon, shoot and kill a Christian Arab woman and a Jewish couple and their 4-year-old son, and then take hostage and kill 22 high school students and three of their adult escorts.[340] |
August 14, 1974 | Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda, Cyprus | Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda massacre[341][342][343] | [344] | 126EOKA-B gunmen massacred the Turkish Cypriot inhabitants of the villages of Maratha, Santalaris and Aloda.[341][344] |
September 24, 1974 | Palimbang, Sultan Kudarat, Philippines | Malisbong Massacre[345] | [345] | 1,000–1,500Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines murdered male Muslim Moros aged 11–70 years old in a village surrounding a nearby mosque. |
July 31, 1975 | Northern Ireland | Miami Showband massacre | 5 | Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) with backing from the British Army forces killed three members of pop group the Miami Showband in a gun and bomb attack. Two UVF members also died when the bomb exploded prematurely.[346][347][348][349][350] |
January 5, 1976 | Northern Ireland | Kingsmill massacre | [351] | 10Irish republicans shot ten Protestant workers dead outside the village of Kingsmill in County Armagh, Northern Ireland.[351][352] |
January 18, 1976 | Lebanon | Karantina massacre | 1,500 | Lebanese Christian militia overrun the Karantina district in East Beirut and kill up to 1,500 Palestinians and Muslims during the Lebanese Civil War.[353] |
January 20, 1976 | Lebanon | Damour massacre | [354] | 150–582Palestinian militia aligned with the Lebanese National Movement kill 150–582 Christian civilians in the village of Damour during the Lebanese Civil War, in retaliation for the Karantina massacre.[354] |
August 12, 1976 | Lebanon | Tel al-Zaatar massacre | 1,500–3,000 | Lebanese Christian militias enter the Tel al-Zaatar refugee camp and kill up to 3,000 people during the Lebanese Civil War.[355][356] |
March 11, 1978 | Israel | Coastal Road massacre | [357] | 35Palestinian Fatah members based in Lebanon land on a beach north of Tel Aviv, kill an American photographer, and hijack an inter-city bus driving along Israel's Coastal Highway. 35 civilians are killed and 80 wounded.[357][358][359][360] |
January 31, 1979 | Marichjhapi, West Bengal, India | Marichjhapi massacre | [361] | 50–1,000Marichjhapi massacre refers to the forcible eviction of Bangladeshi refugees and their subsequent death by starvation, exhaustion and police firing in the period between January–June, 1979. |
May 18, 1980 | South Korea | Gwangju massacre | 165–2,000 | An escalated popular uprising in the city of Gwangju, South Korea during which some of the civilian protesters armed themselves by raiding police stations and military depots led to the South Korean army violently ending the protests, causing 165 (maximum estimated) of deaths (including 24 soldiers, 4 policemen). |
June 27, 1980 | Palmyra, Syria | Tadmor Prison massacre | about 1,000 | The massacre occurred the day after a failed attempt to assassinate Syrian president Hafez el-Assad. Members of the units of the Defence Brigades, under the command of Rifaat El Assad, brother of the president, entered in Tadmor Prison and assassinated about a thousand prisoners in the cells and the dormitories. |
December 11, 1981 | El Salvador | El Mozote massacre | 1,000 | The El Mozote Massacre took place in the village of El Mozote, in Morazán department, El Salvador, on December 11, 1981, when Salvadoran armed forces trained by the United States military killed at least 1,000 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign.[362] |
January 14, 1982 | Mexico | Tula massacre | 13 | 13 tortured bodies were found at Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico at the time of Arturo Durazo Moreno Administration. |
February 2, 1982 | Syria | Hama massacre | [363] | 7,000–35,000The Syrian Army killed an estimated 30,000 people in the city of Hama. Instances of mass execution and torture by the Syrian military were documented during the attacks.[364] |
September 16–18, 1982 | Lebanon | Sabra and Shatila massacre | 460–3,500 | Residents of Sabra and Shatila, mostly Palestinian refugees and Lebanese Shia, are killed by the Christian Lebanese Forces militia in the refugee camps, with the help of Israeli forces that encircled the area. The United Nations General Assembly condemned the massacre and declared it to be an act of genocide.[365][366][367] |
December 6, 1982 | Dos Erres, Guatemala | Dos Erres Massacre | More than 250 | US-trained Guatemalan, elite forces came to the village and claimed the village were hiding weapons from rebels. They searched the entire village but they could not find any weapons. The next day, these soldiers massacred everyone in the village. There were only 3 survivors.[368] |
April 3, 1983 | Peru | Lucanamarca massacre | 69 | Maoist Shining Path guerrillas massacre 69 men, women and children with axes, machetes and guns in and around the town of Lucanamarca, Peru.[369] |
February 10, 1984 | Kenya | Wagalla massacre | ~5,000 | a massacre of ethnic Somalis by Kenyan security forces who first gathered them at the Wagalla Airstrip, Wajir County, Kenya. |
July 18, 1984 | San Diego, United States | San Ysidro McDonald's massacre | 21 | Gunman James Oliver Huberty killed 21 people in a McDonald's restaurant before being fatally shot by a SWAT team sniper.[370][371][372] |
October 31 – November 3, 1984 | India | 1984 Sikh massacre | 2,732–8,000 | Mobs composed primarily of Indian National Congress workers and local hoodlums chase down and lynch Sikhs in northern India following the assassination of India PM, Indira Gandhi, at the hands of her Sikh guards. |
March 23, 1985 | Iraq | Dujail Massacre | [373] (33 died in detention before trial) |
129Dujail was the site of an unsuccessful assassination attempt against then Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein by the Shiite Dawa Party, on July 8, 1982. Saddam Hussein ordered his special security and military forces to arrest all Dawa members and their families, imprisoning 787 men, women and children. In March 1985, 96 of the 148 who had confessed to having taken part in the assassination attempt were executed.[373][374][375][376] |
May 14, 1985 | Sri Lanka | Anuradhapura massacre | [377] | 146Tamil Tiger gunmen shoot dead 146 Sinhalese civilians including Buddhist nuns and monks and injure 85 others as they were praying at Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi, a sacred Buddhist shrine in Anuradhapura.[378] |
August 14, 1985 | Peru | Accomarca massacre | [379][380][381] | 47–74An army massacre of campesinos (including six children) in Accomarca, Ayacucho.[380] |
March 7, 1987 | Donggang, Lieyu, Kinmen, Fujian, China | Lieyu massacre (Donggang Incident) | 19+ | Republic of China Army executed all the unarmed Vietnamese refugees in a disoriented fishing boat seeking for political asylum at Donggang beach of Lieyu, Kinmen on March 7–8, 1987.[382] |
June 2, 1987 | Sri Lanka | Aranthalawa Massacre | 37 | Tamil Tigers stop a bus carrying Buddhist monks in Arantalawa and massacre all except of one monk. Killed in the massacre are Chief Priest Ven. Hegoda Indrasara and several novice monks (under the age of 18)[383] |
August 9, 1987 | Clifton Hill, Victoria, Australia | Hoddle Street massacre | [384] | 7The Hoddle Street massacre was a killing spree which claimed the lives of 7 people and wounded 19 others at Hoddle Street in Clifton Hill in north-eastern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[385] |
August 19, 1987 | Hungerford, England | Hungerford massacre | [386] | 16A gunman armed with semi-automatic rifles and a handgun killed 16 people before committing suicide.[387] |
November 8, 1987 | Enniskillen, Northern Ireland | Remembrance Day bombing (Poppy Day massacre).[388][389][390] | 12 | Provisional IRA bombing at the town's cenotaph on Remembrance Sunday.[391] |
December 8, 1987 | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | Queen Street massacre | [384] | 8The Queen Street massacre was a killing spree which claimed the lives of 8 people and wounded 5 others in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[385] |
March 16, 1988 | Belfast, Northern Ireland | Milltown massacre | 3 | Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member Michael Stone kills three people and injures 60 others in a gun and grenade attack at the funeral of three IRA members being held in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast.[392][393] |
June 4, 1989 | Beijing, China | Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 | 300–2,700 | The mourning of Hu Yaobang eventually evolved into a large-scale anti-corruption and democratic demonstration, which was ended in a violent suppression by state-controlled army. The actual number of deaths is still unknown. The massacre did not occur within Tiananmen Square, but in the surrounding areas of the square.[394][395] |
October 3, 1989 | Panama City, Panama | 1989 Panamanian coup d'état attempt#Albrook massacre and arrests (Albrook Massacre)[396][397] | 12 | Following a failed coup, 12 officers were shot dead by forces loyal to Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.[398][399][400][401] |
December 6, 1989 | École Polytechnique, Montreal, Quebec, Canada | École Polytechnique massacre[402] | 14 | Marc Lépine, a misogynist and anti-feminist, shot and killed 14 female students of the École Polytechnique de Montréal and wounded 14 other people before turning his gun on himself. The event led to stricter gun control laws and changes in police tactical response to shootings in Canada.[403][404] |
September 5, 1990 | Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka | Eastern University massacre, | [405] | 158Eastern University massacre is the massacre of 158 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka.[405][406][407] |
January 20, 1990 | Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir | Gawkadal massacre, | 50+ | Indian paramilitary troops of the Central Reserve Police Force opened fire on Kashmiri protesters. |
September 9, 1990 | Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka | Sathurukondan massacre | [408][409] | 184Sathurukondan massacre, also known as the 1990 Batticaloa massacre is the massacre of 184 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Army in the eastern Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka.[408][409][410][411][412] |
November 13, 1990 | Aramoana, New Zealand | Aramoana massacre | 13 | Lone gunman David Malcolm Gray began shooting indiscriminately at people, killing 13 people before being killed by police himself, allegedly after a dispute with his next door neighbor. It remains New Zealand's deadliest criminal shooting.[413][414][415][416] |
January to March 1991 | Awdal, Somalia | Dilla Massacre | 1000 + | The Dilla Massacre, was a series of events that spanned from January 1991 to March 1991, perpetrated by members of the Somali National Movement (SNM) rebel group, against the Gadabuursi clan. The most violent episode was on February 4, 1991 in Dilla, Awdal where hundreds of people were murdered within a single day.[417][418] The killings were referred to and classified as ethnic cleansing, against the Gadabursi, by the United Nations.[419] |
October 16, 1991 | Killeen, Texas, United States | Luby's shooting | 22 | George Jo Hennard drove his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot and killed 22 people, wounded another 20 and then committed suicide by shooting himself.[420][421][422][423][424] |
November 3, 1991 | Lima, Peru | Barrios Altos massacre | 22 | Fifteen people were killed and four injured when Grupo Colina, the anti-communist paramilitary squad, opened fire on a neighborhood barbecue which they had mistaken for a gathering of Maoist Shining Path rebels.[425] |
November 12, 1991 | Dili, Timor Leste | Santa Cruz massacre | ~270 | An estimated 270 pro-independence demonstrators were killed in the Santa Cruz Cemetery while conducting a peaceful memorial service during the Indonesian Occupation of East Timor and is part of the East Timorese Genocide.[426] |
November 15, 1991 | Sudan, Bor | Bor massacre | 2,000–27,000 | An estimated 2,000 civilians were massacred in Bor during the Second Sudanese Civil War by Nuer fighters from SPLA-Nasir, led by Riek Machar, and the militant group known as the Nuer White Army.[427] |
November 18–21, 1991 | Vukovar, Croatia | Vukovar massacre | 264 | Members of the Serb militias, aided by the Yugoslav People's Army, killed Croat civilians and POWs.[428][429][430][431] |
February 26, 1992 | Khojaly, Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan | Khojaly Massacre | [432] | 613Armenian armed forces, reportedly with help of the Russian 366th Motor Rifle Regiment, raided the town of Khojaly and massacred its Muslim civilian population. The death toll according to the Government of Azerbaijan was 613 civilians, of whom 106 were women and 83 were children.[433][434][435] |
June 17, 1992 | Boipatong, South Africa | Boipatong massacre | [436] | 4545 African National Congress (ANC) supporters were killed by members of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). |
July 18, 1992 | Lima, Peru | La Cantuta massacre | [437] | 459 students and a professor on La Cantuta University were kidnapped and killed by Grupo Colina, an anticommunist paramilitary group. |
September 7, 1992 | Bisho, Ciskei/South Africa | Bisho massacre | 29 | 28 African National Congress (ANC) supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march. |
October 2, 1992 | São Paulo, Brazil | Carandiru massacre | 111 | The massacre was triggered by a prisoner revolt within the prison. The police made little if any effort to negotiate with the prisoners before the military police stormed the building, as the prison riot became more difficult for prison guards to control. The resulting casualties were of 111 prisoners killed. |
January 8, 1993 | Palatine, Illinois, United States | Brown's Chicken massacre | 7 | Seven people were murdered at the Brown's Chicken and Pasta in Palatine[438] |
1993 | Autonomous republic of Abkhazia, Georgia | Sukhumi massacre (1993)[439] | 17,000–22,000 | Incidents of ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia,[440][441][442][443]
[444][445][446][447][448][449][450][451] also known as the "massacres of Georgians in Abkhazia"[452][453] and "genocide of Georgians in Abkhazia"[454] — refers to ethnic cleansing,[455] massacres[456] and forced mass expulsion of thousands of ethnic Georgians. |
April 19, 1993 | Waco, Texas, United States | Massacre at Waco (July 1993) Davidian Massacre (1995)[457] |
82 | Seventy-six members of the Branch Davidian church died after a 51-day siege in a fire started either accidentally or by church members after a Federal Bureau of Investigation tank attack upon the main building. Earlier, on February 28, 1993, six others died by gunfire after the original Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid.[458] |
June–July 1993 | Brazil | Yanomami or Haximu massacre | [459][460] | 16–73Garimpeiros (illegal gold miners) killed Yanomami people. |
July 2, 1993 | Sivas, Turkey | Sivas massacre | 35 | 35 people (mostly Alevi intellectuals) were killed when a mob of Islamic extremists set fire to the hotel where the group had assembled.[461][462][463] |
July 5, 1993 | Başbağlar, Erzincan, Turkey | Başbağlar massacre | 33 | Several PKK members stormed the village and killed 33 civilians after rounding them up. Also over 200 houses, a clinic, a school and a mosque were burned down.[464][465] |
July 25, 1993 | Cape Town, South Africa | St James Church massacre | 11 | 11 People were killed during a church service by Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) armed with assault rifles and grenades. |
October 30, 1993 | Greysteel, Northern Ireland | Greysteel massacre | 8 | Ulster Defence Association (UDA) opened fire in a crowded bar using an AK-47 and automatic pistol. Eight civilians were killed and thirteen wounded.[466][467][468][469][470][471][472][473] |
February 25, 1994 | West Bank | Cave of the Patriarchs massacre[474][475] (Ibrahimi Mosque massacre)[476] |
29 | Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein opens fire with an assault rifle against Palestinian Muslims, killing 29 and wounding 150 at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron before being subdued and beaten to death by survivors.[477][478] |
1994 | Algeria | Algerian Village massacres of the 1990s | [479][480] | 10,000During the 1990s, many large-scale massacres of villagers in Algeria were perpetrated by groups attacking villages at night and cutting the throats of the inhabitants. The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) has avowed its responsibility for many of them. The massacres peaked in 1997 (with a smaller peak in 1994). According to a few reports former Algerian army officer, Habib Souaidia testified to his government's involvement in the massacres. The differing accounts are not yet reconciled.[479][481][482][483] The academic consensus is that at least the majority of the massacres were carried out by Islamist radicals, however, the government notably failed to intervene in a number of these massacres.[484] |
March 28, 1994 | Johannesburg, South Africa | Shell House massacre | 19 | Security guards of the African National Congress (ANC) fired on 20,000 Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) marchers.[485][486][487] |
June 18, 1994 | Loughinisland, Northern Ireland | Loughinisland massacre | 6 | Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) opened fire in a crowded bar using assault rifles, killing six civilians and wounding five.[488][489][490][491][492][493][494] |
January 22, 1995 | Israel | Beit Lid massacre | [495] | 22First suicide attack by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, killing 22 and wounding 69. Carried out by two bombers; the second waited until emergency crews arrived to assist the wounded and dying before detonating his bomb.[496][497][498][499] |
July 1995 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Srebrenica massacre | 8,372 | The Srebrenica massacre involved the genocidal killing, in July 1995, of 8,372 Bosniaks, mainly men and boys, in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. |
March 13, 1996 | Scotland | Dunblane massacre | [500] | 17A gunman opened fire in a primary school, killing sixteen children and one teacher before killing himself.[501][502][503] |
April 29, 1996 | Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australia | Port Arthur massacre | [384] | 35The Port Arthur massacre of 28 April 1996 was a killing spree which claimed the lives of 35 people and wounded 21 others mainly at the historic tourist site Port Arthur in south-eastern Tasmania, Australia. It later emerged that the gunman had severe intellectual disability.[504] The massacre remains Australia's deadliest mass killing spree and remains one of the deadliest such incidents worldwide in recent times.[385] |
April 18, 1996 | Lebanon | First Qana massacre[505][506] | 106 | Israeli artillery struck the Unifil Headquarters in Qana which was providing shelter to approximately two hundred Lebanese civilians. The Israeli military said the strike was in error and that they were not targeting the UN shelter. An amateur film was released showing that, contrary to Israeli assertions, an Israeli drone was spying on the UN compound just before it was shelling.[507] The UN concluded that the attack was intentional. Amnesty International also concluded, "the IDF intentionally attacked the UN compound.[508][509][510][511][512][513] |
February 5, 1997 | Ghulja, China | Ghulja incident (2006)[514] | 9 | After two days of protests during which the protesters had marched shouting "God is great" and "independence for Xinjiang" the demonstrations were crushed by the People's Liberation Army. Official reports put the death toll at 9 while dissident reports estimated the number killed at more than 100.[515][516][517][518][519][520] |
November 17, 1997 | Luxor, Egypt | Luxor massacre | 64 | Massacre carried out by Egyptian Islamist militants, in which 64 people (including 59 visiting tourists) were killed using automatic weapons and machetes.[521][522][523] |
December 22, 1997 | Acteal, Mexico | Acteal massacre | 45 | Massacre carried out by paramilitary forces of 45 people attending a prayer meeting of indigenous townspeople, who were members of the pacifist group Las Abejas ("The Bees"), in the village of Acteal, municipality of Chenalhó, in the Mexican state of Chiapas.[524][525][526] |
August 15, 1998 | Omagh, Northern Ireland | Omagh bombing (November 1998)[527] | 29 | The Omagh bombing was a car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army, a splinter group of former Provisional Irish Republican Army members opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. Twenty-nine people died and approximately 220 people were injured.The attack was described by the BBC as "Northern Ireland's worst single terrorist atrocity".[528][529][530][531][532][533] |
April 20, 1999 | Littleton, Colorado, United States | Columbine High School Massacre (May 1999)[534] | [535] | 15Two teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold open fire on their classmates on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School, killing 12 students and a teacher and injuring 21 others before committing suicide in the school's library. |
July 27, 2000 | West Bengal, India | Nanoor massacre | 11 | Killing of 11 landless labourers allegedly by activists of Communist Party of India (Marxist), a political party in India, in Suchpur, near Nanoor and under Nanoor police station, in Birbhum district in the Indian state of West Bengal.[536][537][538] |
June 1, 2001 | Tel Aviv, Israel | Dolphinarium discotheque massacre | 25 | A Hamas suicide bomber blows himself up outside a nightclub in Tel Aviv, killing at least 21 teenage girls and 4 adults. The youngest victim was 14 years old, and a majority of the teenage girls were of Russian origin.[539] |
January 17, 2002 | Hadera, Israel | Bat Mitzvah massacre | 6 | An attack carried out in January 2002 by al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in which a Palestinian gunman hurling grenades killed six and wounded 33 in a Bat Mitzvah celebration, a traditional Jewish celebration held for a 12-year-old girl.[540][541] |
February 28, 2002 | Ahmedabad, India | Gulbarg Society massacre | 69 | During the 2002 Gujarat riots, a mob attacked the Gulbarg Society, a lower middle-class Muslim neighbourhood in Chamanpura, Ahmedabad. Most of the houses were burnt, and at least 35 victims including a former Congress, Member of Parliament, Ehsan Jafri, were burnt alive, while 31 others went missing after the incident, later presumed dead, bringing the total of the dead to 69.[542][543][544] |
March 27, 2002 | Netanya, Israel | Passover massacre | [545] | 30Killing of 30 guests at the Park Hotel in Netanya, Israel, sitting down to the traditional Passover Seder meal. Another 143 were injured. Hamas claimed responsibility.[545][546][547][548][549] |
May 19, 2004 | Iraq | Mukaradeeb wedding party massacre | 42 | US military shoots and bombs civilians celebrating a wedding; 42 are killed, including 13 children. US military maintains no such party was taking place at the time of the attack, but two videos, one of the party and the other of the remains taken the next day, refute the US denial.[550][551] |
September 1, 2004 | Beslan, Russian Federation | Beslan school hostage crisis | 334 | Armed Chechen separatists[552] took more than 1,200 people hostage at a school. 334 civilians were killed, including 186 school children, and hundreds wounded.[553][554][555] |
March 5, 2005 | near Rehoboth, Namibia | Kareeboomvloer massacre | 8 | Brothers Sylvester and Gavin Beukes murder the owners' couple of farm Kareeboomvloer and execute all witnesses, including two children.[556] The motive was revenge for a previous theft charge laid by the farm owner.[557] |
May 13, 2005 | Andijan, Uzbekistan | Andijan massacre | 187–1,500 | Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops fired into a crowd of protesters.[558][559] |
August 4, 2005 | Shefa-Amr, Israel | Shafram massacre (2005)[560] | 4 | In protest of Ariel Sharon's government evacuation of Gaza colonies, Jewish IDF soldier Eden Natan-Zada travels to Israeli Arab city Shefa-Amr and unloads his gun against residents of a Druze neighborhood. |
November 19, 2005 | Haditha, Iraq | Haditha massacre | 24 | US Marines slaughter 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians, among whom numerous children and the elderly. Although the unit's commander, Staff Sgt Frank Wuterich, claimed his forces came under attack just before the rampage, no weapons were found in the area.[561] |
March 12, 2006 | Iraq | Mahmudiyah massacre[562] | 6 | U.S. soldiers invade Iraqi family residence; kill a father and mother and their three youngest children; rape the eldest child, Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi (14); and kill her. |
March 25, 2006 | Seattle, Washington, United States | Capitol Hill massacre | 6 | 28-year-old Kyle Aaron Huff entered a rave afterparty in the southeast part of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood and opened fire, killing six and wounding two, before committing suicide.[563] |
July 30, 2006 | Lebanon | Qana airstrike | 28 | Airstrike by the Israeli Air Forces on three-storey kill 28 civilians, including 16 children. The Israeli military alleged the compound was used by Hezbollah to store weapons but international observers and journalists denied military equipment was found on the rubble of the building from where the bodies of the victims, civilians in their pajamas were taken.[564] |
April 16, 2007 | Blacksburg, Virginia, United States | Virginia Tech massacre | 32 | Gunman Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people and wounded many others[565] before committing suicide. The massacre one of the deadliest peacetime shooting incidents by a single gunman in United States history, on or off a school campus.[566] |
September 28, 2009 | Conakry, Guinea | 28 September massacre | 157 | Guinean uniformed security forces opened fire on a political rally trapped in the 28 September Stadium.[567] |
November 5, 2009 | Ft. Hood, Texas, United States | 2009 Fort Hood shooting | 13 | Gunman Malik Nadal Hasan, a Major in the U.S. Army, killed 12 soldiers and one civilian, and wounded at least 30 on the base at Ft. Hood. Initial reports indicate Hassan was upset at being deployed to Iraq.[568][569][570][571][572][573] |
November 23, 2009 | Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Philippines | Maguindanao massacre | 57 | A group of 100 armed men, alleged to include police and private militia led by Andal Ampatuan, Jr., stopped a convoy of five cars transporting Genalyn Tiamzon-Mangudadatu, the wife of Esmael Mangudadatu, who is running for provincial governor in the 2010 Philippine elections. She was en route to the town of Shariff Aguak to file a certificate of candidacy for her husband, accompanied by his sisters, other supporters, and members of the press. The attackers kidnapped and later killed all members of the Mangudadatu group; reports state that women in the group were raped before being killed. Five other people not part of the group, in a car behind the convoy, were also kidnapped and killed.[574][575][576][577][578] |
July 22, 2011 | Utøya island, Norway | Utøya massacre | 69 | Right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik opened fire at a summer camp held by the Workers' Youth League killing 69 and wounding 200 before surrendering to police.[579] Breivik also killed eight people in a bombing in Oslo in a separate attack hours earlier.[580] |
August 18, 2011 | Uror County, South Sudan | Uror massacre | 640+ | In what was believed to be a revenge operation, members of the Murle tribe attacked members of the Nuer tribe, burning down over 3,400 houses and the hospital ran by Médecins Sans Frontières. An initial estimate showed that 38,000 heads of cattle were stolen and 208 children were kidnapped.[581] |
October 5, 2011 | Chiang Khong, Chiang Rai, Thailand | Mekong River massacre | 13 | Two Chinese cargo ships were attacked on a stretch of the Mekong River in the Golden Triangle area. All 13 crew members were killed and dumped in the river.[582] It is the deadliest assault on Chinese nationals abroad in modern times.[583] |
December 23 – January 4, 2012 | Pibor, South Sudan | Pibor massacre | 900–3,141 | Partly as reaction for previous massacres, the Nuer White Army released a statement stating its intention to "wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer's cattle"[584] and massacred members of the Murle people.[585] |
March 11, 2012 | Kandahar, Afghanistan | Kandahar massacre | 17 | 17 Afghan civilians were killed by U.S. Army Soldier Robert Bales.[586] Some witnesses have indicated more than one person was involved.[587] |
May 25, 2012 | Houla, Syria | Houla massacre | 108 | Approximately 108 people were killed with knives in the Syrian town of Houla. Approximately 25 men, 49 children and 34 women were among the victims.[588] |
August 14, 2013 | Cairo, Egypt | Rabaa massacre | 600–800+ | Egyptian security forces and army raided two camps of protesters in Cairo: one at al-Nahda Square and a larger one at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. The two sites had been occupied by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi. Reports of fatalities range from 600 to more than 800 civilians, while at least 3,994 were injured. |
December 2013 | Juba, South Sudan | Gudele massacre | 240 | During the breakout of the South Sudanese Civil War, Dinka SPLA soldiers rounded up and killed Nuer men from Nuer suburbs in the capital, Juba.[589] |
April 15, 2014 | Bentiu, South Sudan | 2014 Bentiu massacre | 400+ | During the South Sudanese Civil War, rebels massacred mostly non-Nuer civilians after taking control of Bentiu.[590] |
August 2014 | Sinjar District, Nineveh Governorate, Iraq | Sinjar massacre | 2,000–5,000 | An ISIS massacre of Yazidi men. |
December 16, 2014 | Peshawar, Pakistan | 2014 Peshawar school massacre | 148 | Seven gunmen affiliated with the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) conducted a terrorist attack on the Army Public School killing more than 150 people, including 134 schoolchildren, ranging between eight and eighteen years of age. |
June 17, 2015 | Charleston, SC, United States | Charleston church shooting (Charleston church massacre)[591][592][593] | 9 | A mass shooting perpetrated by Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white supremacist, opened fire at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, killing 9.[594] |
November 13, 2015 | Paris, France | Bataclan massacre (2016)[595] | 130 | November 2015 Paris attacks. The single deadliest terrorist attack in French history. Multiple shooting and grenade attacks occurred on a Friday night; among the locations targeted were a music venue, sports stadium and several bar and restaurant terraces. 90 persons were killed during a siege at an Eagles of Death Metal concert inside the Bataclan. French president François Hollande evacuated from a football match between France and Germany at the Stade de France, slated venue for the UEFA Euro 2016 Final, after three separate suicide bombings over the course of about 40 minutes. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks and President Hollande named the Paris attacks an "act of war".[596] |
June 12, 2016 | Orlando, Florida, United States | Orlando massacre | 49 | A mass shooting perpetrated by Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen, opened fire in the Pulse Nightclub, a gay nightclub, killing 49, and injuring 50+. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. It was the worst shooting massacre by a lone perpetrator in modern U.S. history, until the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.[597] |
May 26, 2019 | North Waziristan, Pakistan | Kharqamar incident (Khar Qamar massacre)[598] | 13–17[599][598] | Pakistan Army shot into a Pashtun protest gathering, killing more than 13 protesters and injuring over 25 others.[598] |
May 23, 2019 | Northern Mali | Ogossagou massacre | 160 | Two villages of Fulani herders in central Mali, Ogossagou and Welingara, were particularly affected during several attacks by gunmen.[600] |
June 10, 2019 | Northern Mali | Sobane Da massacre | 76[601][602] | The Dogon village of Sobane-Kou in Mali was attacked by a suspected Fulani militia group.[603] |
"It is usually assumed that this story relates to the St Brice's Day massacre ..." p. 55
When in July 1099 the crusaders finally reached the goal of their long, perilous, and arduous campaign, they acted in ways that resonated with elements of one of the Bible's best known herem narratives: just as [...] the Israelites had done at Jericho, so the crusaders killed a large proportion of the city's inhabitants, including women and children.
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
The massacre at Babi Yar, near Kiev, which claimed the lives of more than thirty thousand Jewish victims on September 29 and 30, 1941, was the largest single mass killing for which the German army was responsible during its campaign against the Soviet Union.
These would be the first of many probes into what soon became known as the Kent State Massacre. Like the Boston Massacre almost exactly two hundred years before (March 5, 1770), which it resembled, it was called a massacre not for the number of its victims but for the wanton manner in which they were shot down.
In February 1991, "ethnic cleansing" by the SNM took place in the Boroma region, the main Gadabursi town
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