20th Century Terrorists

Rank the Most Wicked 20th Century Terrorists

Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.

 1 
Osama Bin Laden
(Terrorist)
Osama Bin Laden
173
Birthdate: March 10, 1957
Sun Sign: Pisces
Died: May 2, 2011
Osama Bin Laden, former leader of the international terrorist organization Al Qaeda, had orchestrated the September 11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, among others. The attacks led to the U.S.’s War on Terror, and Laden was eventually tracked down and killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 2011.
 2 
Ted Kaczynski
(American Domestic Terrorist)
Ted Kaczynski
88
Birthdate: May 22, 1942
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, United States

From a brilliant mathematician and an assistant professor at University of California, Theodore Kaczynski became the notorious American criminal—Unabomber—who was responsible for mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 in eighteen years. He was eventually caught and sentenced to life imprisonment after his anti-technology essay sent to the media was recognised by his brother.

 3 
Timothy McVeigh
(American Domestic Terrorist Who Was Responsible for the 1995 ‘Oklahoma City Bombing’)
Timothy McVeigh
43
Birthdate: April 23, 1968
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Lockport, New York, United States
Died: June 11, 2001

A Gulf War veteran, Timothy McVeigh made headlines after carrying out the Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people. He defended his actions saying that he wanted to inspire a revolution against what he considered a tyrannical government. The bombing remains the most malignant act of domestic terrorism in American history. He was executed by lethal injection in 2001.

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 4 
Dawood Ibrahim
(Criminal)
Dawood Ibrahim
98
Birthdate: December 27, 1955
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Khed Ratnagiri, Bombay State

A mobster and drug dealer most wanted by India, Dawood Ibrahim heads the organized crime syndicate popularluy known as D-Company. He was named No.3 on The World's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives by the FBI in 2011. He is wanted on the charges of terrorism, murder, targeted killing, extortion, and drug trafficking among other crimes.

 5 
Afzal Guru
(Indian Separatist Who Was Convicted for His Role in the 2001 Indian Parliament Attack)
Afzal Guru
12
Birthdate: June 30, 1969
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Baramulla district, India
Died: February 9, 2013
 6 
Talwinder Singh Parmar
(Indian-born Canadian Sikh Militant)
Talwinder Singh Parmar
6
Birthdate: February 26, 1944
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Panchhat, Kapurthala, Punjab, India
Died: October 15, 1992
 7 
Imad Mughniyeh
(Founding Member of Lebanon's 'Islamic Jihad Organization' and Hezbollah Chief Of Staff)
Imad Mughniyeh
6
Birthdate: December 7, 1962
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
Birthplace: Tair Debbé, Lebanon
Died: February 12, 2008

 Imad Mughniyah, founding-member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and Chief of Staff of Hezbollah, was accused by US and Israeli officials for several kidnappings, assassinations and bombings, including 1983 US embassy bombings. Argentine government indicted him for 1992 Israeli embassy attack in Buenos Aires. He was killed in Syria by a car bomb in a joint-operation of CIA and Mossad.

 8 
Mullah Krekar
(Founder of the terrorist organization Ansar al-Islam)
Mullah Krekar
5
Birthdate: July 7, 1956
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Sulaymaniyah

Mullah Krekar is an Islamic scholar and militant. He is credited with founding an Islamist armed group named Ansar al-Islam. Interestingly, he claimed that he was not aware of the various terrorist attacks organized by Ansar al-Islam. He is currently serving his sentence in an Italian prison after having been deported to Italy from Norway in 2020.

 9 
Gudrun Ensslin
(Far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction)
Gudrun Ensslin
3
Birthdate: August 15, 1940
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Bartholomä, Germany
Died: October 18, 1977
 10 
Irmgard Möller
(Terrorist)
Irmgard Möller
2
Birthdate: May 13, 1947
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Bielefeld, Germany
 11 
Abu Yahya al-Libi
(Terrorist)
Abu Yahya al-Libi
0
Birthdate: January 1, 1963
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Libya
Died: June 4, 2012
 12 
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
(Criminal)
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
5
Birthdate: June 24, 1949
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Rheinberg, Germany
 13 
Saad bin Laden
(Terrorist)
Saad bin Laden
3
Birthdate: 1979 AD
Birthplace: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Died: 2009 AD
 14 
Yakub Memon
(Criminal)
Yakub Memon
9
Birthdate: July 30, 1962
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Died: July 30, 2015
 15 
Hanadi Jaradat
(Terrorist)
Hanadi Jaradat
5
Birthdate: September 22, 1975
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Jenin, Palestine
Died: October 4, 2003
 16 
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
(Military personnel and Terrorist)
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho
0
Birthdate: August 31, 1936
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Maputo, Mozambique
Died: July 25, 2021

Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho was a Portuguese military officer best remembered as the chief strategist of the Carnation Revolution in Lisbon. Otelo assumed leadership roles after the Revolution, which ended the authoritarian Estado Novo regime in Portugal. Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho is still revered by Portuguese activists of the left, but is hated by right-wing activists.

 17 
Adelheid Schulz
(Criminal)
Adelheid Schulz
3
Birthdate: March 31, 1955
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Lörrach, Germany
 18 
Ahmed Ghailani
(Terrorist)
Ahmed Ghailani
2
Birthdate: April 14, 1974
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Zanzibar, Tanzania
 19 
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
(Comorian-Kenyan member of al-Qaeda, and the leader of its presence in East Africa)
Fazul Abdullah Mohammed
3
Birthdate: December 25, 1974
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Moroni, Comoros
Died: June 8, 2011
 20 
Nasser al-Bahri
(Bodyguard)
Nasser al-Bahri
0
Birthdate: 1972 AD
Birthplace: Saudi Arabia
Died: December 26, 2015
 21 
Mun Se-gwang
(Terrorist)
Mun Se-gwang
2
Birthdate: December 26, 1951
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Osaka, Japan
Died: December 20, 1974
 22 
Fahd al-Quso
(Terrorist)
Fahd al-Quso
1
Birthdate: November 12, 1974
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Aden, Yemen
Died: May 6, 2012
 23 
Birgit Hogefeld
(Red Army Faction)
Birgit Hogefeld
4
Birthdate: July 27, 1956
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Wiesbaden, Germany
 24 
Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alawi
(Terrorist)
Moath Hamza Ahmed al Alawi
1
Birthdate: 1977 AD
Birthplace: Yemen
 25 
Tohir Yoʻldosh
(Cofounded the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan)
Tohir Yoʻldosh
0
Birthdate: October 2, 1967
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Namangan, Uzbekistan
Died: October 1, 2009
 26 
Luis Posada Carriles
(Intelligence agent)
Luis Posada Carriles
6
Birthdate: February 15, 1928
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Birthplace: Cienfuegos, Cuba
Died: May 23, 2018
 27 
Angelo Fusco
(Former volunteer in the Belfast Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who escaped during his 1981 trial for killing a Special Air Service)
Angelo Fusco
0
Birthdate: September 2, 1956
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Belfast, Northern Ireland
 28 
Bangla Bhai
(Terrorist)
Bangla Bhai
1
Birthdate: 1970 AD
Birthplace: Bangladesh
Died: March 30, 2007

Bangla Bhai was a Bangladeshi terrorist who served as the military commander of the infamous militant group Al Qaeda. He gained worldwide notoriety for terrorist activities such as bombings before his arrest in 2006. He was sentenced to death and executed by hanging in 2007.

 29 
Eric Rudolph
(Terrorist)
Eric Rudolph
23
Birthdate: September 19, 1966
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Merritt Island, Florida, United States

Eric Rudolph is a terrorist convicted for a series of bombings in the southern US between 1996 and 1998. He is also known as the Olympic Park Bomber. He was listed as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives for five years before being captured. He is currently incarcerated at the ADX Florence Supermax prison. 

 30 
Saif al-Adel
(Al-Qaeda)
Saif al-Adel
8
Birthdate: April 11, 1960
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Menofia Governorate, Egypt
 31 
Carlos the Jackal
(Mercenary, Terrorist)
Carlos the Jackal
11
Birthdate: October 12, 1949
Sun Sign: Libra
Birthplace: Caracas
 32 
Idoia López Riaño
(Former ETA Hitwoman)
Idoia López Riaño
4
Birthdate: March 18, 1964
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain
 33 
Ayman al-Zawahiri
22
Birthdate: June 19, 1951
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Maadi, Egypt
Former surgeon Ayman al-Zawahiri was initially Osama bin Laden’s physician and became the leader of al-Qaeda after Laden’s death. He was one of the brains behind the 9/11 terror attacks. He also urged Muslims to kidnap Western tourists in Islamic countries and was behind the U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa.
 34 
Terry Nichols
(American Domestic Terrorist Who Was Convicted of Being an Accomplice in the Oklahoma City Bombing)
Terry Nichols
17
Birthdate: April 1, 1955
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Lapeer, Michigan, United States
Terry Nichols is a convicted terrorist who was part of the Oklahoma City bombing, along with co-conspirator, Timothy McVeigh, whom he had met while working with the U.S. Army. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without parole and remains incarcerated at ADX Florence, a high-security prison in Colorado.
 35 
Abu Daoud
(Palestinian Militant and Mastermind of the Munich Massacre)
Abu Daoud
2
Birthdate: August 17, 1937
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Jerusalem, Palestine
Died: July 3, 2010
Abu Daoud was a Palestinian militant, lawyer, and teacher. He was the mastermind of the Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics, which killed two Israeli Olympians. Abu Daoud is also known for penning his autobiography titled Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich.
 36 
Mohamed Atta
(Hijacker)
Mohamed Atta
56
Birthdate: September 1, 1968
Sun Sign: Virgo
Birthplace: Kafr el-Sheikh, Egypt
Died: September 11, 2001
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
 37 
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh
(Terrorist)
Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh
7
Birthdate: December 23, 1973
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: London, England
Height: 6'2" (188 cm)
 38 
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
27
Birthdate: October 30, 1966
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Birthplace: Zarqa, Jordan
Died: June 7, 2006
Jordanian jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ran a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. He led many attacks on American troops during the Iraq War and formed the Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad. He came to be known as the Emir of Al Qaeda in the Country of Two Rivers
 39 
Anwar al-Awlaki
(First U.S. Citizen to Be Targeted and Killed By a Drone Strike from the U.S. Government)
Anwar al-Awlaki
74
Birthdate: April 22, 1971
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
Died: September 30, 2011

Al-Qaeda terrorist and Islamic preacher Anwar al-Awlaki, initially a university lecturer, had been involved in a number of terrorist attack plots, including one in which they had planned to blow up a Detroit-bound airplane. American-born Yemeni Awlaki died in a drone strike ordered by Barack Obama in 2011.

 40 
Richard Reid
(Terrorist)
Richard Reid
8
Birthdate: August 12, 1973
Sun Sign: Leo
Birthplace: Bromley, United Kingdom
 41 
Dokka Umarov
(1st Emir of the Caucasus Emirate (2007 - 2013))
Dokka Umarov
1
Birthdate: April 13, 1964
Sun Sign: Aries
Birthplace: Kharsenoy, Chechnya, Russia
Died: September 7, 2013

Chechen separatist Dokka Umarov later declared himself the emir of the Islamic Caucasus Emirate. Though a civil engineer by profession, he continued to indulge in criminal activities while working in Russia. He was eventually poisoned, and his body was found in a remote Russian area.

 42 
Zacarias Moussaoui
(French Al-Qaeda Member and the Only Person Convicted for the 9/11 Attacks)
Zacarias Moussaoui
8
Birthdate: May 30, 1968
Sun Sign: Gemini
Birthplace: Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France

Known as the “20th hijacker” of the 9/11 terror attacks, Zacarias Moussaoui is a French al-Qaeda member who has previously lived in England and is equipped with a business degree. The only person to be convicted in a U.S. court for the September 11 attacks, he is now serving life in prison.

 43 
Shamil Basayev
(Senior leader of the Chechen independence movement and terrorist)
Shamil Basayev
6
Birthdate: January 14, 1965
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Dyshne-Vedeno, Russia
Died: July 10, 2006
 44 
Mohammed Bouyeri
(Covicted Terrorist Who Assassinated Dutch Film Director Theo van Gogh)
Mohammed Bouyeri
3
Birthdate: March 8, 1978
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Amsterdam, Netherlands
 45 
Akhtar Mansour
(Afghan Militant and Former 'Taliban' Leader)
Akhtar Mansour
13
Birthdate: 1968 AD
Birthplace: Maiwand, Afghanistan
Died: May 21, 2016
Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was an Afghan militant best remembered for leading Taliban from 29 July 2015 until his death on 21 May 2016. He was killed in Balochistan, Pakistan in a US drone strike. After his death, Hibatullah Akhundzada succeeded him as the new leader of Taliban.
 46 
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
25
Birthdate: March 1, 1964
Sun Sign: Pisces
Birthplace: Kuwait

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a Pakistani terrorist, who is believed to be “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks.” A member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization, he led al-Qaeda's propaganda operations for a few years. He is known by at least fifty pseudonyms. He was captured in 2003 and is currently detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

 47 
Beate Zschape
(Terrorist)
Beate Zschape
2
Birthdate: January 2, 1975
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Birthplace: Jena, East Germany
Height: 5'5" (165 cm)
 48 
Muhammad Atef
(Terrorist)
Muhammad Atef
4
Birthdate: 1944 AD
Birthplace: Menofia Governorate, Egypt
Died: November 16, 2001
 49 
Omar Abdel-Rahman
(Blind Egyptian Islamist Militant and Leader of 'Al-Jama’a Al-Islamiyya')
Omar Abdel-Rahman
5
Birthdate: May 3, 1938
Sun Sign: Taurus
Birthplace: Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt
Died: February 18, 2017

Known as The Blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel-Rahman was a blind Islamist militant from Egypt. Though blind since childhood, he studied theology and went on to lead the al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah. He later fled to the US, where he was convicted of plotting several terrorist activities and sentenced to life imprisonment.

 50 
Ajmal Kasab
(Member of the Lashkar-e-Taiba Islamist terrorist organization, through which he took part in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in Maharashtra, India)
Ajmal Kasab
22
Birthdate: July 13, 1987
Sun Sign: Cancer
Birthplace: Faridkot, Punjab, Pakistan
Died: November 21, 2012