(Reuters) – A new chapter in mass attacks began in Nice, France in 2016, when a man drove a heavy truck into a crowd of Bastille Day revelers. Since then, vehicle attacks have become more frequent, although only a few of them have been declared acts of terrorism. The New Orleans New Year’s Day attack, as revelers ushered in 2025, was the last attack.
A driver drove his pickup truck into a crowd celebrating New Year’s Eve in New Orleans’ French Quarter and opened fire, killing 10 people and wounding more than 35, in an early-morning attack that the FBI said was a potential act of terrorism.
Vehicle attacks have become more common around the world. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency calls vehicle attacks a “significant threat in the United States” and provides a “Security Guide to Preventing and Mitigating Vehicle Incidents.”
Below is a list in reverse chronological order of some high-profile incidents where a vehicle was used to ram into crowds, injuring and killing bystanders.
MAGDEBURG, Germany
Last month in Germany, a 50-year-old man was charged with multiple murders and attempted murder after police said he drove his car through crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring dozens.
The suspect, who was in custody, is a psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia with a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric who has lived in Germany for almost two decades.
ZHUHAI, China
In November, a driver drove his car into a crowd at a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, killing 35 people and seriously injuring 43 in one of the deadliest attacks in modern Chinese history.
Police said the 62-year-old driver, surnamed Fan, was arrested and hospitalized for self-inflicted knife wounds to the neck and other parts of the body. The fan was upset about the division of assets in his divorce settlement, police said.
WAUKESHA, Wisconsin
A Wisconsin man was convicted in 2022 of killing six people and injuring dozens when he drove his SUV into a Christmas parade near Milwaukee, Wisconsin in November 2021. Darrell Brooks is accused of intentionally driving his SUV through police barricades and crashing is among the throngs of people taking part in the annual parade in Waukesha, about 15 miles (25 km) west of downtown Milwaukee.
LONDON, Ontario
A 22-year-old self-confessed Canadian white nationalist ran over and killed four members of a Muslim family with his pickup truck in June 2021 in London, Ontario, a Canadian city about 120 miles (190 km) from Toronto. In 2023, Nathaniel Veltman was convicted of first degree murder. The judge in the case called it an act of terrorism.
TORONTO
In 2018, a man drove a rented van into dozens of people in downtown Toronto, killing 11 and injuring 15.
Alek Minassian was found guilty in 2021 of murdering 10 people and attempting to kill 16. One of the 16 later died of injuries sustained in the attack, and the judge said he considered the woman the 11th victim of the murder.
NEW YORK
In October 2017, a 34-year-old Uzbek national drove a rental truck into a Manhattan bike path, killing eight people and injuring 11, including a Belgian woman who lost her legs. Sayfullo Saipov, who moved to the US in 2010, was convicted in 2023 of murder with the aim of joining the Islamic State, which the US designates as a terrorist organization.
BARCELONA
In August 2017, a 22-year-old drove his car into a crowd in Barcelona on Las Ramblas, a popular tourist spot, killing 13 people. The man, Younes Abouyaaqoub, fled the scene on foot before later stabbing the man to death and taking his car to get away. Abouyaaqoub was shot by the police a few days later near Barcelona.
NEW YORK
In May 2017, a US Navy veteran plowed his car into pedestrians in crowded Times Square in Manhattan, killing a woman and injuring 22 people. In 2022, the jury accepted the insanity defense offered by Richard Rojas.
LONDON
In March 2017, a car drove over Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians outside Parliament, killing four people and injuring dozens. The driver, 52-year-old Khalid Masood, a British-born convert to Islam, fatally stabbed the officer before he was killed.
BERLIN
In December 2016, Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist ties, hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then drove it into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 11 other people and injuring dozens. Four days later he was killed in a shootout with the police in Italy.
NICE, France
In 2016, a gunman drove a heavy truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French coastal city of Nice, killing 86 people and wounding more in an attack claimed by Islamic State. The attacker was identified as a Frenchman born in Tunisia.
