On this day in history: 1781 – The Battle of Jersey is fought at Saint Helier, Jersey. Sixteen British soldiers are killed and 65 are wounded; 86 French soldiers are killed, 72 are wounded, and 456 are captured. 1809 – Combined British, Portuguese, and colonial Brazilian forces begin the Invasion of Cayenne in French Guiana during the Napoleonic Wars. 1839 – The most damaging storm in 300 years sweeps across Ireland, damaging or destroying more than 20% of the houses in Dublin. 1842 – The 1842 Kabul Retreat (or Massacre of Elphinstones Army) begins during the First Anglo-Afghan War. Following an uprising in Kabul, Major General Sir William Elphinstone negotiates an agreement with Akbar Khan by which his army is to withdraw to the British garrison at Jalalabad, more than 90 miles away. As the army and its numerous dependents and camp followers begin their march, they come under attack from Afghan tribesmen. Many of the column died of exposure, frostbite, or starvation or are killed during the fighting. In total the British army loses 4,500 troops, along with about 12,000 civilians. 1919 – Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, dies at Sagamore Hill, his estate overlooking New Yorks Long Island Sound. 1938 – US Navy Consolidated PBY-1 Catalina patrol plane BuNo 0159 crashes during routine flight off Point Loma, California; two officers and five enlisted men are killed. 1951 – The massacre of Communist collaborator civilians by South Korean Forces, South Korean Police forces, and pro-South Korea militia begins in Ganghwa, South Korea. Over the course of three days anywhere from 212-1,300 people are murdered. 1960 – National Airlines Flight 2511 crashes near Bolivia, North Carolina, when a bomb planted on board explodes in mid-air; all 34 people on board are killed. 1963 – Colombian terrorist group National Liberation Army (ELN) is founded. 1967 – An unnamed village detective goes berserk in Cairo, Egypt, killing six people and wounding four, because his landlady destroyed [his] wedding nest. 1968 –Aeroflot Flight 1668 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes 58 miles from Olekminsk, Soviet Union, killing all 45 on board; the aircraft is probably shot down by a stray missile. 1968 – A low-loader transporter carrying a 120-ton electrical transformer is struck by an express train in Hixon, England. Eleven people are killed and 45 injured. 1969 – Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 crashes while on approach to Bradford Regional Airport. Eleven of the 28 passengers and crew on board are killed. 1974 – An Aeroflot flight loses control and crashes in Mukachevo, Ukraine, Soviet Union due to icing, killing all 24 on board. 1974 – In Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 12 people are killed when an Air East flight crashes short of the runway at Johnstown–Cambria County Airport. 1979 – Four children of the Tan family of Singapore, three boys and a girl, all aged between 5 and 10, are found murdered in their flat at Geylang Bahru District. They are slashed to death, with their bodies piled up in the bathroom. The case remains unsolved to this day. 1981 – River boat Novo Amapo just off Belem de Cajari, a hamlet 100 miles upriver from the boats destination of Macapa, Brazil, on the Amazon delta; 230 people are killed. 1991 – A bomb kills three and wounds seven in La Dorada, Colombia. 1991 – A bus slams into a tree on the outskirts of Muranga, Kenya; 47 people are killed, another 40 are injured. 1993 – Indian Border Security Force units kill 55 Kashmiri civilians in Sopore, Jammu, and Kashmir, in revenge after militants ambushed a BSF patrol. 1996 – Snow begins falling in Washington, DC, and up the Eastern seaboard, beginning a blizzard that kills 154 people and causes over $1 billion in damages before it ends. 1998 – Approximately 70 people are killed and over 100 injured when the Bareilly-Varanasi passenger train rams into the stationary Kashi Vishwanath Express Train near Hardoi, India. 2000 – At least 22 people are injured when a bomb explodes in the coach of a train at the Old Delhi station in India. 2000 – Celia, the last Pyrenean Ibex, is found dead after a tree lands on her. 2004 – At least 12 people are killed and over 35 injured in a suspected car bombing attack in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The victims include children. 2005 – A truck and a bus collide on a highway in Fujian Province, China, killing 28 and injuring 19. 2005 – Nine people (including the engineer) die and more than 250 are injured when a 42-car Norfolk Southern freight train collides head-on with a parked local in Graniteville, South Carolina. Sixteen cars derail in the accident, including a tank car that ruptures 90 tons of chlorine gas into the air. 2007 – A bus travelling from Dhaka to Chittagong crashes and catches fire near Comilla, Bangladesh, killing between 55 to 70 people. 2007 – A suspected LTTE suicide bomber detonates herself inside a Colombo–Matara passenger bus in Peraliya, Sri Lanka. Sixteen civilians are killed and more than 50 are injured. 2007 – A speeding bus in Comilla, Bangladesh, attempts to pass another vehicle, goes off the road, and catches fire; at least 40 passengers are burned to death. 2007 – A bus is bombed near the tourist resort of Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka; 15 people are killed and 24 wounded. 2007 – A bomb targeting the convoy of General Ali al-Yassiri, the head of Baghdads emergency police, kills a civilian and wounds two policemen and a civilian in Baghdad, Iraq. Al-Yassiri is not harmed in the blast. 2007 – A bomb placed at a fuel station in Baghdad, Iraq, kills three people and wounds four others. Attacks on gas stations are frequent in Iraq, as militants attempt to disrupt one of the countrys most profitable industries. Gas stations are also often targeted because they have long lines of patrons waiting to purchase fuel. 2009 – Israeli tanks shell a school run by the UN in Gaza Strip, killing 42 civilians and causing an unknown number of injuries. The victims are sheltering from Israeli attacks in the area and most of the dead are in the playground. 2012 – A string of shootings and bombings in Baghdad, Mosul, and Balad, Iraq, mostly appear to target Shia Muslims; there is also a mortar attack directed at the Green Zone during a military parade. At least eight are killed in two days of violence and dozens more are injured. 2012 – A suicide bomber strikes Damascus, Syria, near a police station and a bus full of recruits. The Syrian National Council, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Free Syrian Army accuse the government of orchestrating this to reduce attention on its crackdown and to justify its alleged brutality. More than 26 people are killed and more than 63 are injured.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 12:42:05 +0000
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