List of assassinated serving ambassadors

This is a list of assassinated serving ambassadors.[1][2]

List edit

Ambassador Post Place Country Date of death Killed by
Envoys of Xerxes I Persian envoys to Sparta Sparta Sparta 481 B.C. Leonidas I
Gaius Fulcinius Roman envoys to Fidenae Fidenae Roman Republic 438 B.C. On orders of Lars Tolumnius
Lucius Roscius
Spurius Antius
Tullus Cloelius
Ambassadors of Genghis Khan Mongol ambassadors to the Khwarezmian Empire Otrar/Urgench Khwarezmian Empire 1218 A Mongolian trade caravan including ambassadors was massacred by Inalchuq. Later on, a Muslim ambassador was beheaded on orders of Sultan Muhammad II
Ambassadors of Hulagu Khan Mongol ambassadors to the Ayyubid and Mamluk Sultanate Mayyafariqin   Ayyubid Sultanate 1260 A Jacobite priest was crucified on the orders of Ayyubid emir Al-Kamil Muhammad[3]
Egypt  
Mamluk Sultanate
Sultan Qutuz[4]
Ambassador of Timur Timurid ambassador to the Mamluk Sultanate Damascus   Mamluk Sultanate 1400 On orders of Mamluk viceroy, Sudun
 
Antonio Rincon
French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Rivoli   Venice July 3, 1541 Venetian Imperial Guard
 
Alexander Griboyedov
Russian Ambassador to Persia Tehran   Persia February 11, 1829 Iranian mob
 
Clemens von Ketteler
German Ambassador to China Beijing   China June 20, 1900 Boxer rebel
 
Wilhelm von Mirbach
German Ambassador to Russia Moscow   Russian SFSR June 6, 1918 Left Socialist Revolutionaries
 
Vatslav Vorovsky
Soviet Representative to Italy Lausanne    Switzerland May 10, 1923 Maurice Conradi
 
Rayko Daskalov
Bulgarian Minister Plenipotentiary to Czechoslovakia Prague   Czechoslovakia August 23, 1923 Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization
 
Pyotr Voykov
Soviet Ambassador to Poland Warsaw   Poland June 7, 1927 Boris Kowerda
 
Ceno bej Kryeziu
Albanian Ambassador to Czechoslovakia Prague   Czechoslovakia July 26, 1927 Alkibijad Bebi
 
Henry Gurney
United Kingdom High Commissioner in Malaya Fraser's Hill   Malaya October 6, 1951 Members of the Malayan Communist Party
Kokkat Sankara Pillai First Secretary in High Commission of India in Ottawa, Canada Ottawa   Canada April 19, 1961 Killed by a mentally unstable Yugoslav immigrant to Canada
 
John Mein
United States Ambassador to Guatemala Guatemala City   Guatemala August 28, 1968 Rebel Armed Forces
Karl von Spreti West German Ambassador to Guatemala Guatemala City   Guatemala May 4, 1970 Rebel Armed Forces
Vladimir Rolović Yugoslav Ambassador to Sweden Stockholm   Sweden April 15, 1971 Croatian National Resistance
Joaquin Zenteno Anaya Bolivian Ambassador to France Paris   France April 15, 1971 Hugo Banzer regime[citation needed]
Marcel Dupret Belgian Ambassador to Morocco Skhirat   Morocco July 10, 1971 Army rebels during a coup d'état attempt against King Hassan II[5]
 
Germain Mba
Gabonese Ambassador to Japan Libreville   Gabon November 5, 1971 African mercenaries led by Bob Denard[citation needed]
Cleo A. Noel, Jr. United States Ambassador to Sudan Khartoum   Sudan March 2, 1973 Black September
Rodger Davies United States Ambassador to Cyprus Nicosia   Cyprus August 19, 1974 EOKA B

Daniş Tunalıgil
Turkish Ambassador to Austria Vienna   Austria October 11, 1975 Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide
İsmail Erez Turkish Ambassador to France Paris   France October 24, 1975 Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia
Christopher Ewart-Biggs United Kingdom Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland Dublin   Ireland June 21, 1976 Provisional Irish Republican Army
Carlos Abdala Uruguayan Ambassador to Paraguay Asunción   Paraguay November 5, 1976 Croatian Revolutionary Brotherhood
Francis E. Meloy, Jr. United States Ambassador to Lebanon Beirut   Lebanon June 16, 1976 Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Taha Carım Turkish Ambassador to Holy See Rome   Italy June 9, 1977 Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide
 
Héctor Hidalgo Solá
Argentine Ambassador to Venezuela Buenos Aires   Argentina July 17, 1977 (disappearance) unknown
Mario García Incháustegui Cuban Ambassador to Japan Kuala Lumpur   Malaysia December 4, 1977 killed in the deliberate crash of Malaysian Airline System Flight 653
Said Hammami Palestinian Liberation Organization Representative to the United Kingdom London   United Kingdom January 4, 1978 Abu Nidal Organization (alleged)

Adolph Dubs
United States Ambassador to Afghanistan Kabul   Afghanistan February 14, 1979 Settam-e-Melli (alleged)
Richard Sykes United Kingdom Ambassador to the Netherlands The Hague   Netherlands March 22, 1979 Provisional Irish Republican Army
Gottfried Lessing East German Ambassador to Uganda Kampala   Uganda April 11, 1979 Uganda National Liberation Front
Archibald Gardner Dunn South African Ambassador to El Salvador San Salvador   El Salvador October 8, 1980 Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Martí[citation needed]
Louis Delamare French Ambassador to Lebanon Beirut   Lebanon September 5, 1981 Pro-Syrian militants[citation needed]
Domingo Garcia Rodriguez Cuban Ambassador to Egypt Cairo   Egypt October 6, 1981 Rogue military gunmen during the Assassination of Anwar Sadat [citation needed]
Abdul Razzak Lafta Iraqi Ambassador to Lebanon Beirut   Lebanon December 15, 1981 killed in an embassy bombing by the Islamic Dawa Party
Shlomo Argov Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom London   United Kingdom February 24, 2003
(shot on June 3, 1982)
Abu Nidal Organization
Galip Balkar Turkish Ambassador to Yugoslavia Belgrade   Yugoslavia March 9, 1983 Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide
Lee Gye-cheol South Korean Ambassador to Burma Rangoon   Burma October 9, 1983 North Korean agents as part of an assassination plot against visiting South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan
Khalifa Ahmad Mubarak Emirati Ambassador to France Paris   United Arab Emirates February 8, 1984 Abu Nidal Organization
Salih Mahdi Ammash Iraqi Ambassador to Finland Helsinki   Finland January 30, 1985 Baathist Iraqi agents[citation needed]
Pedro Manuel de Aristegui Spanish Ambassador to Lebanon Beirut   Lebanon April 16, 1989 killed by a rocket[citation needed]
Philippe Bernard French Ambassador to Zaire Kinshasa   Zaire January 28, 1993 killed by a stray bullet during a looting rampage by local soldiers[6]
Alfredo Enrique Vargas-Hirsch Venezuelan Ambassador to Jamaica Kingston   Jamaica November 6, 1997 unknown[7]
Michael Courtney Apostolic Nuncio to Burundi Bujumbura   Burundi December 29, 2003 National Forces of Liberation
Ihab el-Sherif Egyptian ambassador to Iraq Baghdad   Iraq July 7, 2005 kidnapped and killed by al-Qaeda in Iraq
 
J. Christopher Stevens
United States Ambassador to Libya Benghazi   Libya September 11, 2012 Ansar al-Sharia
Jamal al-Jamal Palestinian Ambassador to Czechia Prague   Czechia January 1, 2014 killed by a bomb
 
Andrei Karlov
Russian Ambassador to Turkey Ankara   Turkey December 19, 2016 Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş
 
Kyriakos Amiridis
Greek Ambassador to Brazil Nova Iguaçu   Brazil December 26, 2016 Sérgio Moreira

Luca Attanasio
Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo Goma   Democratic Republic of the Congo February 22, 2021 unknown attackers during a kidnapping attempt

References edit

  1. ^ "US Ambassadors Killed in the Line of Duty". Associated Press. 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  2. ^ "How many U.S. Ambassadors have been killed by militants?". Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
  3. ^ Runciman 1987, p. 305.
  4. ^ Runciman 1987, p. 311.
  5. ^ "The World: Morocco: Bloody Birthday". Time. 19 July 1971. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  6. ^ "French Envoy to Zaire Killed in a Shooting". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2021-02-22. Retrieved 2021-02-22.
  7. ^ "Venezuelan Ambassador Killed". Associated Press. 1997-11-06. Retrieved 2020-01-03.

Bibliography edit

  • Runciman, Steven (1987). A History of the Crusades: Volume 3, The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521347723.