Hyderabad : Many a head of state has fallen prey to murder plots throughout the known history of mankind. Saturday's failed assassination bid on former US President Donald Trump came as a rude shock to the whole world as it happened at a time when one of the world's biggest democracies is heading towards a high-stakes election.
The Trump shooting incident has turned focus on the assassinations of world leaders that sent shockwaves because of the brutality and treachery with which those killings were executed. Assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, John F Kennedy, Mujibur Rahman, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and other world leaders remain painful reminders of the dangers to which people occupying high positions of power are exposed.
Sensational Assassinations of Heads of States in recent history:
April 14th, 1865: Abraham Lincoln, the then President of the USA, the 16th US president who led the nation through the American Civil War, was fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth, an American stage actor at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. The theatre has been preserved as a heritage site.
July 2, 1881: James Garfield, the then President of the USA. "My God, what is that?” cried the 20th president of the United States, after having been shot in the back with a British Bulldog revolver on July 2, 1881. Garfield’s assassin was one Charles Guiteau, a failed theologist, lawyer and book collector turned political hopeful.
Oct. 16, 1951: Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated on October 16, 1951, when he was addressing a gathering at Company Bagh in Rawalpindi. The garden was later renamed Liaqat Bagh in his honour.
22.11.1963: John F Kennedy, fondly referred to by his nickname 'JFK' was the 35th president of the US from 1961 until his assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US Marine, was arrested for the assassination, but he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby two days later.
Aug. 15, 1975: Mujibur Rahman President of Bangladesh was Assassinated along with his wife and five children in a coup by rightist, pro-Pakistan army officers. He led his nation to independence from Pakistan in 1971.
October 1981: In October 1981, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt was assassinated by fanatic Moslem gunmen during a Cairo military parade. Anwar Sadat had become the first Arab leader to make peace with Israel two years earlier - a decision that angered many Egyptians and led to violent demonstrations against him. Both President Sadat and his wife Jehan knew that the decision to sign a peace deal with Israel was a dangerous step.
October 31, 1984: The Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh on October 31, 1984. The assassins opened fire at Gandhi when she was on her way to be interviewed by British actor Peter Ustinov who was filming a documentary. While Beant fired three rounds, Satwant fired 30 rounds after the Prime Minister fell to the ground.
May 21, 1991: Former PM of India Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated on the night of May 21, 1991, at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu by a woman suicide bomber at an election rally.
May 01 st 1993: President Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka was assassinated by a suicide bomber who strapped explosives to his body and rammed his bicycle into the presidential party during a May Day parade in the island nation's capital.
November 4, 1995: The Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. was shot dead by Yigal Amir, a right-wing extremist, at a rally in Tel Aviv. Rabin was working to establish peace between Israel and Palestine. Since his death, there has been no peace deal between the two nations.
February 14, 2005: Rafic Baha El Deen Al-Hariri was a business tycoon and the Prime Minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 until his resignation, on 20 October 2004. He headed five cabinets during his tenure. Hariri dominated the country’s post-war political and business life and is widely credited with reconstructing Beirut after the 15-year civil war.
27.12.2007: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi shortly after she had addressed an election rally on December 27, 2007. She was attacked after a rally in Liaquat Bagh and brought to the hospital where she was pronounced dead.
20 October 2011: Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed leader of Libya, was captured and killed on 20 October 2011 after the Battle of Sirte. Gaddafi was found west of Sirte after his convoys were attacked by NATO aircraft. He was then captured by National Transitional Council (NTC) forces and was killed shortly afterwards.
08.07.2022: Former Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe was killed after being shot twice in the chest and neck during a campaign speech near Nara.
