This is a timeline of incidents in 1979 that have been labelled as "terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

" and are not believed to have been carried out by a government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 or its forces (see state terrorism

State terrorism

State terrorism may refer to acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people. It can also refer to acts of violence by a state against its own people.-Definition:...

 and state-sponsored terrorism

State-sponsored terrorism

State-sponsored terrorism is a term used to describe terrorism sponsored by nation-states. As with terrorism, the precise definition, and the identification of particular examples, are subjects of heated political dispute...

).
,  Netherlands, March 22: The IRA

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 kill Richard Sykes, then British Ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....

 to the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

, and his Dutch valet, Krel Straub, in a gun attack in Den Haag. The IRA also carried out 24 bomb attacks across Northern Ireland., March 30: A car bomb explodes in the Palace of Westminster

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...

 car park, killing the driver, Conservative MP for Abingdon

Abingdon (UK Parliament constituency)

Abingdon was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom , electing one Member of Parliament from 1558 until 1983...

, Airey Neave

Airey Neave

Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave DSO, OBE, MC was a British soldier, barrister and politician.During World War II, Neave was one of the few servicemen to escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle...

. The Irish National Liberation Army

Irish National Liberation Army

The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....

 (INLA) claimed responsibility for the killing., May 3: A group of terrorist of Red Brigades

Red Brigades

The Red Brigades was a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organisation, based in Italy, which was responsible for numerous violent incidents, assassinations, and robberies during the so-called "Years of Lead"...

 attacked the Lazio-head office of Christian Democracy

Christian Democracy (Italy)

Christian Democracy was a Christian democratic party in Italy. It was founded in 1943 as the ideological successor of the historical Italian People's Party, which had the same symbol, a crossed shield ....

 in Rome, Italy, killing two policemen and wounding one.,  United States,  Israel, July: Norwegian police prevents terrorist attacks against the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

., June 9: Puerto Rican nationalist organization FALN

Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (Puerto Rico)

The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional was a Puerto Rican clandestine paramilitary organization that, through direct action, advocated complete independence for Puerto Rico. At the time of its dissolution, the FALN was responsible for more than 120 bomb attacks on United States targets between...

 exploded a bomb outside of the Shubert Theatre

LaSalle Bank Theatre

The Bank of America Theatre is a theater operated by Broadway In Chicago, a Nederlander Presentation. Formerly known as the LaSalle Bank Theatre, the Sam Shubert Theatre and the Majestic Theatre, it is located at 18 West Monroe Street in the Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois...

 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, injuring five people., July 29: Basque ETA

ETA

ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...

 members bomb two railway stations in Madrid, killing seven.,  United Kingdom, August 27: Lord Mountbatten

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma

Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

, his grandson, Nicholas, his daughter's mother-in-law, Baroness Brabourne

Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne

Doreen Knatchbull, Baroness Brabourne, CI was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, socialite and victim of the Provisional IRA.-Family life:...

, and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell are killed by IRA

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 bomb on board his boat off Mullaghmore, Co. Sligo. The same day two IRA bombs kill 18 British soldiers near Warrenpoint. After the explosions a heavy gun battle ensued between the soldiers and the attackers firing from their position inside the border with the Republic of Ireland. One British tourist was accidentally fired upon by British forces and killed., 2 November: Sunni

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....

 militant group of 200 to 500 men seized

Grand Mosque Seizure

The Grand Mosque Seizure on November 20, 1979, was an armed attack and takeover by Islamist dissidents of the Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest place in Islam...

 the Grand Mosque

Masjid al-Haram

Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām is the largest mosque in the world. Located in the city of Mecca, it surrounds the Kaaba, the place which Muslims worldwide turn towards while performing daily prayers and is Islam's holiest place...

 in Mecca

Mecca

Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...

. The ensuing battle with the authorities left more than 250 people dead, including civilians, troops and terrorists., November 4: Iran Hostage Crisis

Iran hostage crisis

The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic crisis between Iran and the United States where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of Islamist students and militants took over the American Embassy in Tehran in support of the Iranian...

 takes place. Iranian Muslim students take over the American Embassy, taking 52 US diplomats hostage for 444 days. (Ended January 20, 1981), November 15: American Airlines Flight 444

American Airlines Flight 444

American Airlines Flight 444 was a Boeing 727 flying from Chicago to Washington DC, which on November 15, 1979 was attacked by the Unabomber. The bomb planted in the cargo hold failed to detonate, but gave off large quantities of smoke, and twelve passengers had to be treated afterwards for smoke...

 is attacked by the Unabomber

Theodore Kaczynski

Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski , also known as the "Unabomber" , is an American mathematician, social critic, anarcho-primitivist, and Neo-Luddite who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.Kaczynski was born in Chicago, Illinois,...

 - his bomb gives off large quantities of smoke

Smoke

Smoke is a collection of airborne solid and liquid particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product of fires , but may also be used for pest...

 but fails to detonate., December 14: An unknown terrorist group shot into a bus returning from NATO munition base in Cakmakli

Tunceli Province

The Tunceli Province is a province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The province was named Dersim Province and was changed to Tunceli Province on January 4, 1936. with the "Law on Administration of the Tunceli Province" , no...

, Tunceli Province

Tunceli Province

The Tunceli Province is a province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The province was named Dersim Province and was changed to Tunceli Province on January 4, 1936. with the "Law on Administration of the Tunceli Province" , no...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, killing four American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

civilians and servicemen, no one claimed responsibility in this incident.