
With today marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it’s a good opportunity to highlight episodes of far-right and white supremacist violence in our look back on the week in terrorism.
- Jan. 15, 1997 — Belfast, Northern Ireland: Billy Wright, leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, goes on trial on charges of threatening a witness. Wright was killed in the Maze Prison in December 1997.
- Jan. 16, 1997 — Sandy Springs, GA: Two anti-personnel bombs, the second designed to target police and other emergency workers, explode outside an abortion clinic in this Atlanta suburb. The Army of God claims responsibility.
- Jan. 17, 2011 — Spokane, WA: Bomb technicians defuse a sophisticated improvised explosive device (IED) discovered in a backpack along the route of Spokane’s Martin Luther King Day parade. Forensic clues led to the arrest and conviction of Kevin William Harpham, a long-time neo-Nazi and regular contributor to the white supremacist Aryan Alternative newspaper.
- Jan. 18, 1996 — Ohio: Peter Kevin Langan, “Commander Pedro,” leader of the underground Aryan Republican Army, is arrested after a shootout with the FBI.
- Jan. 19, 2007 — Gunagado, Ethiopia: Twenty-five are killed in an attack carried out the Ogaden National Liberation Front.
- Jan. 20, 2012 — Kano, Nigeria: More than 180 people are killed in a series of coordinated attacks. Boko Haram claims responsibility.
- Jan. 21, 1975 — Belfast, Northern Ireland: Two members of the Irish Republican Army are killed when a bomb they are transporting explodes in their car on Victoria Street.