John F. Kennedy, Olof Palme, Indira Gandhi, Yitzchak Rabin, Benazir Bhutto: They all have one thing in common. These heads of state and government and political figures died from shots fired by assassins.
The attacks caused shock across borders and even affected the course of history – sometimes with devastating consequences.
It is often politicians who are in the crosshairs of assassins. But clergy (Pope John Paul II), athletes (Monica Seles) and pop stars (John Lennon) also become victims of violence. But now many other people are also dying from assassinations and attacks, be it bomb explosions in subways or gun attacks on synagogues.
What many of these atrocities have in common is that they often occur unexpectedly and from ambush. And the attackers want to cause chaos, uncertainty, fear, terror or social or political changes.
This photo series shows you some examples of attacks on political figures in recent decades.
Sources: AFP news agency, Federal Agency for Civic Education, Munzinger Information Service, Encyclopædia Britannica