Notorious Terrorists

Yasir Arafat
Profile of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat

Abu Nidal -- Terrorist Leader
The Palestinian terrorist leader Abu Nidal was known in the 1970s and 1980s as a prolific, if paranoid, terrorist. Learn more about Abu Nidal here.

Michael Bray (Army of God)
In 1985 Michael Bray was convicted for destroying eight women's health care clinics and other properties in the Washington DC area. Find out more about the Army of God chaplain, and why he says Christianity justifies acts of terrorism.

Carlos the Jackal (PFLP; independent)
The terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal offered the image of terrorist as a glamorous, ruthless criminal able to pull off amazing capers, then elude authorities.

Menachem Begin (Irgun Zvei Leumi)
Menachem Begin began his career in British Mandate Palestine as the head of the a right-wing Zionist militia, Irgun Zvai Leumi. Some say he should be remembered as a terrorist, while to others, Begin was a heroic player in the founding the state of Israel.

Patty Hearst (SLA)
Americans were riveted by the Patty Hearst kidnapping in 1974, and then shocked when the heiress joined her terrorist captors, the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Osama bin Laden (Al Qaeda)
This profile of Osama bin Laden traces his life from childhood and schooling to his association with the Afghan Mujahideen, to the declarations of jihad that have made him the world's most notorious terrorist.

Luis Posada Carriles (anti-Castro Cuban terrorism)
Luis Posada Carriles may be the only former CIA operative wanted for international terrorism. The man behind the bombing of Cubana Flight 455 in 1976 remains untried in American detention.

Ayman Al Zawahiri (Al Qaeda; Egyptian Islamic Jihad)
Ayman al Zawahiri began his life as a militant Islamist as a fifteen year old in Cairo. An ambitious leader, he later became what many suspect was one of the chief planners of the 9/11 attacks.