Assassination plots and attempts are common among prominent people.
Through the years, we have seen presidents, prime ministers, human
rights advocates, religious leaders and world-renowned celebrities
almost get killed in cold blood by haters, subordinates or strangers.
Here are the 8 Boldest Assassination Attempts Ever
1. Pope John Paul II
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Pope John Paul II was about to give his speech at St. Peter’s Square on
May 13, 1981 when Turksih gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot at him. He fired
the shots while the pope was walking through the crowd. The Pope was
rushed to Gemelli Hospital and fortunately survived.
2. Benazir Bhutto
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Islamic Nation Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto arrived in Karachi,
Pakistan to welcome a crowd on October 18, 2007 when two bombs went off
at the airport after two suicide bombers hit her homecoming parade.
Bhutto survived the attack but 139 bystanders were killed. It was later
revealed that Al-Qaeda was responsible for the bombing.
3. Theodore Roosevelt
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On October 14, 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was conducting a campaign in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was about to deliver a speech when a mentally
unstable man named John Schrank shot at him. The projectile passed
through his speech and eyeglass case and went through his skin but
fortunately didn’t puncture his lung. After the shot, he continued to
deliver his speech with blood seeping through his coat.
4. John F. Kennedy
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On December 11, 1960, retired postal worker Richard Paul Pavlick
followed Kennedy in Palm Beach, Florida in an attempt to kill him by
blowing his car with dynamite. His plan was to ram his car into the
limousine of JFK so the dynamite can kill them both. Unfortunately,
Kennedy left the house with his wife and baby. Feeling pity for JFK’s
family, Pavlick decided to do the assassination another day.
5. Alpha Conde
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In 2011, some gunmen attempted to kill the president of New Guinea by
surrounding his home overnight and pounding his bedroom with several
rockets. Fortunately, the president was sleeping in a different room
when the shooting erupted, saving him from the assassination.
6. Ahmed Dogan
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In January 2013, an assassin tried to kill Bulgarian political leader
Ahmed Dogan while he was delivering his speech at a party conference at
the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. The gunman came up to the
podium and directly extended his gun toward Dogan, but the gun jammed
and failed to shoot off.
7. Bill Clinton
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US President Bill Clinton was attending the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation Summit in Manila in 1996 when a terrorist hit was plotted
against him. A few moments before his motorcade was about to move, some
agents picked up a radio chatter that involved the mention of some code
words referring to a terrorist hit. Agent Merletti changed the route to
protect the President. As the rest of the agents took the prescribed
route, they found four explosives that would have killed President
Clinton.
8. Pervez Musharraf
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In 2000, Pervez Musharraf survived the assassination attempt by Kamran
Atif, a member of Harkat-Ul Muhahideen al-Alami. The assassin planted an
explosive near a bridge in Rawalpindi where the Pakistani political
figure was expected to pass. The attempt failed because when the bomb
exploded, the heavily-guarded convoy of Musharraf had already crossed
the bridge.
