Date: 23 October 1983

Location: Beirut, Lebanon

Type of event: terrorism

Description:

Truck bombs exploded at both the U.S. and French Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The troops were in Lebanon attempting to help end the civil war/unrest. With Iranian and Syrian support, Islamic Jihad (or HizbAllah) had prepared two vehicles with sophisticated shaped charges of Composition-B. At 6:17 AM a suicide bomber drove a truck with a 300-kg charge into the U.S. Marine barracks near the Beirut airport. The building was partially destroyed, killing 241 American servicemen and injuring 146. Three minutes later, at 6:20 AM, a suicide bomber drove a truck with a 75-kg charge into the French marine barracks, killing 58 and injuring 15.

Consequences: 301 killed, 161 injured

References:

• Bodansky, Yossef, Target America: Terrorism in the U.S. Today, 1993, SPI (New York, NY).
• Dobson, Christopher, and Ronald Payne, The Never-Ending War: Terrorism in the 80's, 1987, Facts on File (New York, NY).

© 2017 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 26 November 2017.
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