Terror attack ranks with world's worst

The death toll from the Bali bomb atrocity makes it one of the 10 worst terrorist attacks in the past 20 years.

Among the biggest attacks of recent years are:

June 23, 1985 - An Air India Boeing 747 flying from Toronto to Mumbai with 329 people on board crashes into the Irish Sea. There are no survivors. An Indian commission of inquiry blames the attack on Sikh militants.

December 21, 1988 - A Pan Am Boeing 747 crashes on the town of Lockerbie in Scotland, killing all 259 on board, after a bomb on the plane explodes. Eleven people in Lockerbie are also killed.

July 18, 1994 - At least 96 are killed when a bomb explodes at the Jewish Community Centre in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.

April 19, 1995 - A car bomb destroys a US federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168. Two Americans are convicted, one is executed.

February 9, 1996 - A huge bomb rocks London's Docklands area, killing two and injuring 100. The Irish Republican Army claims responsibility, ending a 17-month ceasefire.

February 25, 1996 - A Hamas suicide bomber blows up a bus near Jerusalem's central bus station. Twenty-six die in this attack and a second Hamas bomb assault in Ashkelon.

18 November, 1997 - An Islamic terror group kills 67 people in a machine-gun attack at a tourist site in Luxor, Egypt. Blind cleric Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman is accused of masterminding the attack from a United States prison.

August 7, 1998 - Truck bombs explode at US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 224, including 12 Americans, and injuring thousands. All but 10 of the deaths are in Nairobi.

August 15, 1998 - A car bomb blast in Omagh kills 29 in the worst single attack in nearly 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland.

September 9, 1999 - A bomb destroys a Moscow apartment block, killing 94 and injuring more than 200.

September 13, 1999- Another bomb destroys a second Moscow apartment block, killing 118. Officials blame both bombs on Chechen guerrillas.

February 25, 2000 - At least 45 are killed when bombs explode in a bus on an inter-island ferry heading for the port of Ozamis in the southern Philippines.

August 10, 2001 - An attack by Unita rebels in Angola on a train travelling between Zenza and Dondo kills 260 and injures 100 others.

September 11, 2001 - Three hijacked planes crash into New York's World Trade Centre towers and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes in Pennsylvania. About 3000 people are killed.

October 12, 2002 - Bombs explode outside Sari nightspot in Kuta Beach, Bali, killing at least 180 and injuring almost 200.

Bali messages

New Zealand travellers in Bali, and their families in New Zealand, can post messages on our Bali Messages page.

Foreign Affairs advice to New Zealanders

* Travellers should defer travel to Bali

* NZers in Bali should keep a low profile and remain calm

* Foreign Affairs Hotline: 0800 432 111

Feature: Bali bomb blast

Pictures from the scene of the blast

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