Incident Summary:
02/10/2003: At around 11:30PM local time, an armed gang of four men stormed the residence of the Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau at his residence in the capital, Bissau, along with two other Chinese Embassy staff. The Diplomats, including the Ambassador were stabbed in a violent knife attack and beaten with iron bars. They were then taken to the Chinese Embassy at around 3:30AM local time and forced to remove cash from the Embassy safe. The armed gang were about to leave with the cash and valuables from the Ambassador's residence at around 4AM on 02/11/2003 when a special Police intervention squad arrived at the Embassy. In the ensuing gunfight, one kidnapper was killed; the other three escaped and were not captured. Guinea-Bissau's Internal Administration Minister stated that political motives could not be ruled out.
Overview
GTD ID:
200302100009
When:
2003-02-10
Country:
Guinea-Bissau
Region:
Sub-Saharan Africa
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Bissau
City:
Bissau
What
Attack Information
| Type of Attack () |
Armed Assault |
| Type of Attack () |
Hostage Taking (Kidnapping) |
| Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
| Target Type: Government (Diplomatic) |
|---|
| Name of Entity |
Government of the People's Republic of China |
| Specific Description |
Chinese Ambassador and Chinese Embassy to Guinea-Bissau |
| Nationality of Target |
China |
Additional Information
| Hostages |
Yes |
| Number of Hostages |
3 |
| US Hostages |
0 |
| Hours of Kidnapping |
4 |
| Outcome |
Successful Rescue |
| Ransom |
No |
| Property Damage |
Yes |
| Extent of Property Damage |
Minor (likely < $1 million) |
| Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
| Type |
Sub-type |
| Firearms |
Unknown Gun Type |
| Melee |
Knife or Other Sharp Object |
| Melee |
Blunt Object |
| Weapon Details |
|---|
| Knives and iron bars were used to stab and beat the Ambassador and Embassy staff, respectively. Unknown firearms were used in the gunfight with the Guinea-Bissau Police. |
Additional Information
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
| Criterion 1 () |
No |
| Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
| Criterion 3 () |
Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
Yes |
| Alternate Designation () |
Other Crime Type |
Who
Perpetrator Group Information
| Group Name |
Claimed Responsibility |
| Unknown |
No |
Perpetrator Statistics
| Number of Perpetrators |
4 |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
| Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities |
| Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
1 |
| Total Number of Injured |
Unknown |
| Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured |
Unknown |
Sources
Sources
| "Guinea-Bissau: Assailants attack Chinese embassy, hold ambassador hostage," RDP Africa WWW-Text, February 11, 2003. |
| "Kidnapped Diplomats Rescued," China Daily (Internet Version-WWW), February 12, 2003. |
| "AFP: Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau Kidnapped by Armed Gang, Escapes Unhurt," AFP, February 11, 2003. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties
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