2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack

Terrorist attack on a popular nightclub in Israel

2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack

class=notpageimage|

The attack site

Location| Tel Aviv, Israel
Coordinates| 32°03′14″N 34°45′59″E﻿ / ﻿32.05389°N 34.76639°E﻿ / 32.05389; 34.76639
Date| 29 August 2011 (2011-08-29)
1:40 (GMT+2)[1]

Attack type

| Vehicle attack, stabbing spree
Deaths| 0
Injured| 4 Israeli civilians
4 Israeli police officers[2]
Assailant| Muhammad Sa'afan[3]

The 2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack was a combined vehicular assault and stabbing attack which occurred on 29 August 2011 when a Palestinian attacker stole an Israeli taxi cab and rammed it into a police checkpoint guarding the popular nightclub, Haoman 17, in Tel Aviv which was filled with 2,000 Israeli teenagers.[4] After crashing into the checkpoint, the attacker jumped out of the vehicle and began stabbing people. Four civilians, four police officers, and the assailant were injured in the attack.[5] The assailant was living illegally in Israel at the time of the attack.[6]

The plan of the attacker allegedly was to strike some of the hundreds of teenagers present at the nightclub. Nevertheless, due to an Israel Border Police roadblock at the entrance and immediate response of the Border Police team during the stabbing spree, a much larger and fatal mass-casualty incident was prevented.[7]

## Background

[edit]

The attack occurred during a period of heightened security on Israel's southern border following a series of Palestinian militant attacks two weeks prior launched from Egyptian territory and a spate of rocket attacks from Gaza.[8][9] The Israeli Defense Forces reported that they had upgraded their presence along the border with Egypt after receiving intelligence warning of a possible attack by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).[8]

## Assailant

[edit]

The assailant, a 21-year-old Palestinian man named Muhammad Sa'afan (alt.: Muhammad Bin Said Zofan), a native of Kalkilya, had been living in Israel as an illegal migrant, sleeping in an abandoned apartment adjacent to the disused Siksik mosque in the Jaffa neighborhood, and supporting himself by doing odd jobs.[6][3][10][11] Sofram met Mohammed Bin Saddam Hussein Biari, a fellow Muslim of the same age, at prayer services in a Jaffa mosque.[11] The two began planning to carry out a terrorist attack and Zofran began practicing the martial art of attacking with a knife and a stick in his apartment.[11]

Although in the initial investigation the attacker insisted that he initiated, planned and prepared for the attack by himself, and that he bought the knife specifically for the stabbing attack and for the taxi robbery,[12] Israeli security nevertheless investigated whether the assailant operated under the instructions and assistance of a terror organization, and whether there might be more attacks expected.[12][13] According to a police official in Tel Aviv, the attacker had received preliminary information about the big party which took place at the "Haoman 17" nightclub during that specific time. The police official also stated "no one arrives by chance to such an event by chance to carry out a stabbing attack at that late hour, unless one has preliminary information".[12]

Investigations revealed that during Ramadan, on 12 August 2011, Biari and Zofran plotted to attack Israeli security forces and civilian Jewish Israelis near the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. To this end, they purchased two knives and rode to Jerusalem on a public bus, staying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount for two weeks. However, according to Biari, Zofran told him that after speaking with a cleric at al-Aqsa he had decided to go back to Jaffa and become a "martyr" there. According to Biari, before leaving Jerusalem, Zofran borrowed Biari's cellphone and recorded a short film of himself that was intended for his parents. Biari stated that he had deleted the footage from his cellphone.[11]

Zofran went to Tel Aviv's new Central Bus Station on 28 August. He had intended to stab a soldier, steal the soldier's gun, and use it to shoot border police. However, after reportedly failing to locate a suitable soldier to stab, he saw a tractor at a construction site on Yedidia Frenkel Street in Tel Aviv's Florentin neighborhood and instead determined to return to that site, steal the tractor, and kill soldiers by ramming the tractor into them. When he returned to the construction site later that night, he was unable to locate the tractor. It was at this point that, according to the indictment, he determined that he would carjack a taxi and carry out a ramming attack on border police stationed at the nearby junction of Salameh and Abarbanel streets.[11]

## Attack

[edit]

On Monday night, 29 August 2011, an Israeli taxi driver, Nachman Aji (60), who was driving his taxi on Salameh Street in Jaffa, picked up a passenger who sat next to the taxi driver and asked to be driven to the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station.[11][14]

According to the taxi driver's testimony, shortly thereafter, around 1:30,[1] the passenger pulled out a sharp knife and demanded that the taxi driver hand him the cab while insisting that "I do not want to hurt you". The driver attempted to fight the passenger but after the passenger stabbed him in the arm he agreed to hand over the vehicle.[15] Driver told police that he had believed that assailant merely wanted to steal the car.[16][14]

At around 1:40[1][17] the attacker drove the stolen taxi at full force into a Border Police roadblock, which was securing the popular Haoman 17 nightclub Tel Aviv,[5] one of Tel Aviv's most popular nightclubs. The club was holding an end-of-summer celebration at the time and according to an estimation of Aharon Aksul, the head of the Tel Aviv police district; the party being held at the club that night was for high school students and the club contained over 1,000 teenagers at the time of the attack.[2][16] Two Border Police officers were injured by the onrushing car.[16]

According to the testimonies of police and people present at the scene, the driver was slumped over the steering wheel and the incident was initially perceived as a unintentional, but as a police officer approached to assist the driver, he began screaming Allahu Akbar, emerged from the car and "brutally" stabbed a nightclub security officer who had approached the car to assist the presumed accident victim, before being subdued by Yitzhak Assaraf, manager of the nightclub, together with security guards Oleg Chritov and Grigory Sokolov. The three men who subdued the terrorist were injured in the struggle.[16][11][18] The attacker managed to stab several bystanders before the Border Police team at the site managed to wrestle the attacker to the ground and arrest him.[5][16] To avoid panic, management instructed the DJ to keep the music playing, which he did for another hour. Only after the area outside the club had been secured did the management calmly evacuate the club of teenagers who had not know about the attack.[19] Around 3:00 the security forces at the site began evacuating the teenagers from the club.[1]

In total eight people were injured, three of them seriously: four policemen, three civilians and the taxi driver, in addition to the terrorist, who was slightly injured in the attack. All eight injured, including the terrorist, were taken to hospital for treatment.[5][20] The civilians injured in the stabbing attacks suffered from cuts to their heads, limbs and abdominal areas.[2][16]

## Legal proceedings

[edit]

Although police requested that the suspect's custody be extended to 15 days following his arrest, the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court extended it to only 10 days.[21] The court hearing was held behind closed doors while the investigation was placed under a gag order.[22]

Mohammed Bin Said Zofran (alt.: Muhammad Sa'afan)[23] (21,) was indicted on 20 September 2011; charged with illegal residency, robbery, injury with serious intent, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit a crime.[11]

Second defendant, Mohammed Bin Saddam Hussein Biari (21) of Jaffa, was charged with failure to prevent a crime, conspiracy to commit a crime, and the destruction of evidence.[11]

The perpetrator was convicted for the attack in March 2012,[24] and sentenced to 18 years in prison.[10] At the trial, the terrorist "refused to express any remorse."[6]

## Victims

[edit]

Two seriously injured border policemen returned to service after a rehabilitation process.[25][26]

## Vehicle ramming as a trend

[edit]

This was one of a small cluster of terrorist vehicle-ramming attacks in Israel in this period, others include the 2008 Jerusalem bulldozer attack, 2008 Jerusalem BMW attack and the 2011 Tel Aviv truck attack.[27] Articles published by Alistair Jamison on NBC News, Joshua Keating in Slate, in Australia's The New Daily, and by the Counter Extremism Project cite this attack as an early example of the terrorist vehicle-ramming attacks that occurred frequently later in the decade in Europe.[28][29][30][31]

In his 2013 book, A Citizen's Guide to Terrorism and Counterterrorism, Christopher C. Harmon references the attack as one of a group of vehicle-ramming attacks in which a terrorist deliberately attempts to run over victims with the intention of "making 'holy war'".[32]

## Reactions

[edit]

Domestic parties

Israel:

* Israel's Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich praised the police response, stating "the message of this event is that the police officers are the bullet-proof vest that prevents terror attacks against teenagers."[33][5]
* Israeli security officials expressed concern regarding how easily the suspect was able to reach Tel Aviv and that casualties could have been higher without the nearby roadblock.[34] There was also fear of further attacks spurred by the end of Ramadan and the pending United Nations General Assembly vote on Palestinian independence.[35]

Palestinian territories:

* The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack. An official statement issued by the PA President's Office in Ramallah said, "[t]he president condemns the attacking of civilians, including the event that took place in Tel Aviv this morning."[36][37]

International

United States:

* The United States Department of State condemned the attack stating "the United States condemns in strongest terms yesterday's brutal attack on innocent civilians in Tel Aviv."[38][39]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d Lappin, Yaakov (29 August 2011). "Timeline of south Tel Aviv terror attack". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
2. ^ a b c חדשות 2 – פיגוע דריסה בת"א: 8 בני אדם נפצעו
3. ^ a b Lappin, Yaakov (29 August 2011). "Nablus man who attacked TA club named as Muhammad Sa'afan". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
4. ^ Marquardt, Alexander; Nota, Bruno (29 August 2011). "Terror Attack Outside Tel Aviv Nightclub Filled With 2,000 Teenagers". ABC News.
5. ^ a b c d e Marquardt, Alexander; Nota, Bruno (29 August 2011). "Terror Attack Outside Tel Aviv Nightclub Filled With 2,000 Teenagers". ABC News.
6. ^ a b c "Israeli court sentences Palestinian to 18 years in jail for 2011 Tel Aviv attack". BBC. 20 July 2012. ProQuest 1027098601.
7. ^ Kubovich, Yaniv (29 August 2011). "Terror attack in Tel Aviv leaves eight wounded". Haaretz. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
8. ^ a b Bronner, Ethan (29 August 2011). "Attacker at Israeli nightclub injures 8". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
9. ^ Flower, Kevin (29 August 2011). "Police: Man plows into Israeli checkpoint, goes on stabbing spree". CNN. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
10. ^ a b 18 Years for Terrorist who Wounded Eight in Tal Aviv, The Jerusalem Post, Joanna Paraszczuk, 20 July 2012
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paraszczuk, Joanna (20 September 2011). "August attack in TA brings indictments. Charge sheet also reveals 2 Kalkilya, Jaffa men planned to knife Israelis at central bus station and Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque". The Jerusalem Post. ProQuest 893973117.
12. ^ a b c המחבל: "תכננתי בעצמי". ממי שמע על המסיבה?
13. ^ Oren, Amir (2 September 2011). "Criminal No. 1". Haaretz. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
14. ^ a b Cohen, Avi (30 August 2017). "Aharonovitch: Terrorist intended much larger Tel Aviv attack". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
15. ^ "Barak: We won't let terror attacks affect our daily lives". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2011.
16. ^ a b c d e f Lapin, Yaakov (30 August 2011). "Packed TA nightclub spared from frenzied Palestinian terrorist. 'Lone-wolf' from Nablus carjacked taxi, launched late-night stabbing spree outside club filled with 1,000 teens. 8 injured including police, club staff". The Jerusalem Post. ProQuest 887611579.
17. ^ "Seven hurt in taxi attack outside Tel Aviv nightclub". Al Arabiya English. Agence France-Presse. 29 August 2011. Archived from the original on 26 June 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
18. ^ 8 פצועים בפיגוע דריסה ליד "האומן 17" בת"א
19. ^ DJ at Tel Aviv club: I was told to keep playing, Hartman, Ben. Jerusalem Post; 30 August 2011 ProQuest
20. ^ "Palestinian on stabbing spree in Tel Aviv". Al Jazeera. Reuters. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
21. ^ Lappin, Yaakov (30 August 2011). "Nablus terrorist's custody extended by 10 days". The Jerusalem Post. ProQuest 887611588.
22. ^ Kubovich, Yaniv (30 August 2011). "Israeli court extends remand of Palestinian responsible for Tel Aviv terror attack". Haaretz. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
23. ^ Lapin, Yaakov (29 August 2011). "Nablus man who attacked TA club named". The Jerusalem Post. ProQuest 887933962.
24. ^ Paraszczuk, Joanna (4 March 2012). "Kalkilya man convicted over Tel Aviv terror attack". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
25. ^ Born Again: Policeman stabbed in Haoman 17 recounts, Walla, Mor Shimoni, 25 February 2017
26. ^ "Human Shield" from Tel-Aviv Terror Attack Returns to Serve in Border Police, YNET, Yoav Ziton, 22 February 2013
27. ^ Lappin, Yaakov (29 August 2011). "Background: Ramming Terror Attacks in Recent Years". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
28. ^ "Vehicles as Weapons of Terror". Counter Extremism Project. Counter Extremism Project. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
29. ^ Keating, Joshua (5 November 2014). "Why Terrorists Use Vehicles as Weapons". Slate. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
30. ^ Jamison, Alastair (20 December 2016). "Truck Attacks: Low-Tech, Soft Target Terrorism Is Growing Threat". NBC News. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
31. ^ Stiles, Jackson (15 July 2016). "The 'dreadful simplicity' of vehicle attacks". The New Daily. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
32. ^ Harmon, Christopher (2013). A Citizen's Guide to Terrorism and Counterterrorism. Routledge. p. 12\. ISBN 978-0415709422.
33. ^ Kais, Roi (29 August 2011). "Aharonovich: Students, remain vigilant". Ynetnews. Ynet. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
34. ^ Pfeffer, Anshel (1 September 2011). "Tel Aviv nightclub attack sparks terror fears". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
35. ^ Tarnopolsky, Noga (30 August 2011). "Israel braces for new terror". GlobalPost. Retrieved 6 September 2011.
36. ^ "Palestinian Authority condemns Tel Aviv terrorist attack". Sun Sentinel. 30 August 2011. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
37. ^ Levy, Elior (29 August 2011). "PA condemns Tel Aviv terror attack". Ynetnews. Ynet. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
38. ^ Nuland, Victoria (29 August 2011). "Daily Press Briefing". U.S. State Department. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
39. ^ "US strongly condemns terror attack at Tel Aviv nightclub". The Jerusalem Post. 30 August 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2016.

## External links

[edit]

* multiple video reports; ABC News
* Video report; The Guardian
* Photo of smashed taxi; Sky News
* Palestinian wounds seven Israelis in Tel Aviv attack – published on the BBC News on 29 August 2011
* Israeli police: 7 wounded in Palestinian attack[dead link‍] – published on The Associated Press on 28 August 2011
* Police: Man plows into Israeli checkpoint, goes on stabbing spree – published on CNN on 29 August 2011

* v
* t
* e

Prominent terrorist attacks against Israelis in the 2010s

2010|

* Tapuah junction stabbing (10 February)
* Murder of Neta Sorek (24 February)
* West Bank shooting attack (31 August)
* Murder of Kristine Luken (18 December)

2011|

* Itamar attack (11 March)
* Jerusalem bus stop bombing (23 March)
* Hamas school bus attack (7 April)
* Southern Israel cross-border attacks (18 August)
* Tel Aviv nightclub attack (29 August)
* Murder of Asher and Yonatan Palmer (23 September)

2012|

* Attacks on Israeli diplomats (13 February)
* Burgas bus bombing (18 July)
* Sinai attack (5 August)
* Southern Israel cross-border attack (21 September)
* Tel Aviv bus bombing (21 November)

2013|

* Tapuah junction stabbing (30 April)
* Bat Yam bus bombing (22 December)

2014|

* Murder of Shelly Dadon (1 May)
* Gush Etzion kidnapping and murder (12 June)
* Jerusalem tractor attack (4 August)
* Jerusalem ramming (22 October)
* Attempted assassination of Yehudah Glick (29 October)
* Jerusalem vehicular attack (5 November)
* Killing of Almog Shiloni (10 November)
* Alon Shvut stabbing (10 November)
* Jerusalem synagogue attack (18 November)

2015|

* Tel Aviv bus stabbings (21 January)
* Shvut Rachel shooting (29 June)
* Murder of Eitam and Na'ama Henkin (1 October)
* Lions' Gate stabbings (3 October)
* Beersheva bus station shooting (18 October)
* Tel Aviv synagogue stabbings (19 November)
* Gush Etzion Junction attack (19 November)

2016|

* Tel Aviv shooting (1 January)
* Tel Aviv stabbings (8 March)
* Jerusalem bus bombing (18 April)
* Tel Aviv shooting (8 June)
* Murder of Hallel Yaffa Ariel (30 June)
* Jerusalem shooting (9 October)

2017|

* Jerusalem truck attack (8 January)
* Jerusalem Light Rail stabbing (14 April)
* June 2017 Jerusalem attack (16 June)
* Temple Mount shooting (14 July)
* Halamish stabbing (21 July)
* Petah Tikva stabbing (24 July)
* Yavne attack (2 August)
* Har Adar shooting (26 September)

2018|

* Ariel stabbing (5 February)
* Murder of Ari Fuld (16 September)
* Barkan Industrial Park shooting (7 October)

2019|

* Murder of Ori Ansbacher (7 February)
* Murder of Yehuda and Tamar Kaduri (10 January)
* Samaria combined attack (17 March)
* Murder of Dvir Sorek (7 August)
* Murder of Rina Shnerb (23 August)

Attacks launched by Palestinians from the West Bank Attacks launched by Palestinians from the Gaza Strip Attacks launched from Egypt Attacks launched from Lebanon

* Rocket attacks
* Lebanese
* Sinai
* Timeline of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict
* 2015–2016

2000s 2020s

* v
* t
* e

Prominent Palestinian militancy attacks in the 2010s

Within
Israel|

* Murder of Neta Sorek2 (February 24, 2010)
* Murder of Kristine Luken2 (December 18, 2010)
* Jerusalem bus stop bombing (March 23, 2011)
* Hamas school bus attack2 (April 7, 2011)
* Tel Aviv nightclub attack2 (August 29, 2011)
* Tel Aviv bus bombing (November 21, 2012)
* Bat Yam bus bombing (December 22, 2013)
* Murder of Shelly Dadon (May 1, 2014)
* Jerusalem tractor attack (August 4, 2014)
* Assassination attempt of Yehuda Glick (October 29, 2014)
* Second Jerusalem vehicular attack (November 5, 2014)
* Killing of Sergeant Almog Shiloni (November 10, 2014)
* Jerusalem synagogue attack (November 18, 2014)
* Tel Aviv bus stabbing attacks (January 21, 2015)
* Beersheva bus station shooting (October 18, 2015)
* Tel Aviv synagogue stabbing (November 19, 2015)
* Tel Aviv shooting (1 January, 2016)
* Tel Aviv stabbings (8 March, 2016)
* Jerusalem bus bombing (18 April, 2016)
* 2nd Tel Aviv shooting (8 June, 2016)
* Jerusalem Light Rail stabbing (14 April, 2017)
* Yavne attack (2 August, 2017)

West
Bank|

* Tapuah junction stabbing (February 10, 2010)
* West Bank shooting attack (August 31, 2010)
* Itamar attack (March 11, 2011)
* Fatal West Bank stoning attack (September 23, 2011)
* Tapuah junction stabbing (April 30, 2013)
* Kidnapping and murder of Israeli teenagers (June 12, 2014)
* First Jerusalem vehicular attack (October 22, 2014)
* Alon Shvut stabbing attack (November 10, 2014)
* Shvut Rachel shooting (June 29, 2015)
* Murder of Eitam and Na'ama Henkin (October 1, 2015)
* Lions' Gate stabbings (October 3, 2015)
* Gush Etzion Junction shooting (November 19, 2015)
* Murder of Hallel Yaffa Ariel (30 June, 2016)
* Jerusalem shooting attack (9 October, 2016)
* Jerusalem truck attack (8 January, 2017)
* Jerusalem attack (16 June, 2017)
* Temple Mount shooting (14 July, 2017)
* Halamish stabbing attack (21 July, 2017)
* Har Adar shooting (26 September, 2017)
* Ariel stabbing (5 February, 2018)
* Barkan Industrial Park shooting (7 October, 2018)
* Samaria combined attack (17 March, 2019)
* Murder of Dvir Sorek (7 August, 2019)

2 Attacks launched from the West Bank
2000s

* v
* t
* e

Vehicle-ramming attacks

1970s|

* Prague (July 1973)
* Ciurea (July 1974)

1980s|

* Reno (November 1980)
* Uluru (August 1983)

1990s|

* Costa Mesa (May 1999)

2000s|

* Azor (February 2001)
* Isla Vista (February 2001)
* Lyon (March 2002)
* UNC (March 2006)
* Glasgow (June 2007)
* Akihabara (June 2008)
* Jerusalem bulldozer (July 2008)
* Kashgar (August 2008)
* Jerusalem BMW (September 2008)
* Apeldoorn (April 2009)

2010s|

* Hebei (August 2010)
* Tel Aviv truck (May 2011)
* Kashgar (July 2011)
* Tel Aviv nightclub (August 2011)
* Woolwich (May 2013)
* Beijing (October 2013)
* Taipei (January 2014)
* Urumqi (May 2014)
* Isla Vista (May 2014)
* Jerusalem tractor (August 2014)
* Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (October 2014)
* Jerusalem (October 2014)
* Jerusalem (November 2014)
* Dijon (December 2014)
* Nantes (December 2014)
* Graz (June 2015)
* Oklahoma (October 2015)
* Nice (July 2016)
* Ohio (November 2016)
* Berlin (December 2016)
* Jerusalem (January 2017)
* Melbourne (January 2017)
* Westminster (March 2017)
* Stockholm (April 2017)
* Times Square (May 2017)
* London Bridge (June 2017)
* Finsbury Park (June 2017)
* Paris (June 2017)
* Levallois-Perret (August 2017)
* Charlottesville (August 2017)
* Sept-Sorts (August 2017)
* Barcelona (August 2017)
* Edmonton (September 2017)
* NYC (October 2017)
* Melbourne (December 2017)
* Munster (April 2018)
* Toronto (April 2018)
* Westminster (August 2018)
* Tajikistan (July 2018)
* Mishui (September 2018)
* Tokyo (January 2019)
* Zaoyang (March 2019)
* Gush Etzion (August 2019)

2020s|

* Volkmarsen (February 2020)
* George Floyd protests (2020)
* Trier (December 2020)
* Washington, D.C. (April 2021)
* London, Ontario (June 2021)
* Minneapolis (June 2021)
* Novara (June 2021)
* Waukesha (November 2021)
* Beersheba (March 2022)
* Ariel (November 2022)
* Guangzhou (January 2023)
* Laval (February 2023)
* Ramot (February 2023)
* Amqui (March 2023)
* Brownsville (May 2023)
* Washington D.C. (May 2023)
* Nottingham (June 2023)
* Tel Aviv (July 2023)
* Rochester (January 2024)
* Ra'anana (January 2024)
* Tel Aviv (October 2024)
* Zhuhai (November 2024)

* v
* t
* e

Nightclub fires, disasters, and attacks

Fires (accidental)|

* 1929 Study Club fire
* 1940 Rhythm Club fire
* 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire
* 1947 Karlslust dance hall fire
* 1961 Top Storey Club fire
* 1970 Club Cinq-Sept fire
* 1972 Play Town Club fire
* 1973 Summerland disaster
* 1977 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire
* 1981 Stardust fire
* 1983 Alcalá 20 nightclub fire
* 1993 Kheyvis fire
* 1996 Ozone Disco fire
* 2000 Luoyang Christmas fire
* 2001 Volendam New Year's fire
* 2001 Canecão Mineiro nightclub fire
* 2002 Utopía nightclub fire
* 2003 The Station nightclub fire
* 2004 República Cromañón nightclub fire
* 2008 Wuwang Club fire
* 2009 Santika Club fire
* 2009 Lame Horse fire
* 2012 Sighetu Marmației explosions
* 2013 Kiss nightclub fire
* 2015 New Taipei water park fire
* 2015 Colectiv nightclub fire
* 2016 Ghost Ship warehouse fire
* 2022 Yaoundé nightclub fire
* 2022 Mountain B nightclub fire
* 2022 Binh Duong karaoke bar fire
* 2022 Kostroma café fire
* 2022 Poipet casino hotel fire
* 2023 Fonda Milagros nightclub fire
* 2024 Gayrettepe nightclub fire

Crowd crushes|

* 2000 Throb nightclub disaster
* 2003 E2 nightclub crush
* 2018 El Paraíso stampede
* 2018 Corinaldo stampede
* 2020 Los Olivos stampede

Attacks|

* 1972 Blue Bird Café fire
* 1973 Whiskey Au Go Go fire
* 1973 UpStairs Lounge arson attack
* 1974 Gulliver's nightclub fire
* 1975 Gargantua bar attack
* 1976 Puerto Rican Social Club fire
* 1980 Denmark Place fire
* 1982 Droppin Well bombing
* 1984 Dallas nightclub shooting
* 1986 West Berlin discotheque bombing
* 1990 Happy Land fire
* 1997 Otherside Lounge bombing
* 1998 Gothenburg discothèque fire
* 1998 Panda Bar massacre
* 2001 Dolphinarium discotheque massacre
* 2001 Myojo 56 building fire
* 2002 Bali bombings
* 2004 Columbus nightclub shooting
* 2005 Stage Club bombing
* 2006 Arua nightclub shooting
* 2007 London car bombs
* 2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack
* 2015 Cairo restaurant fire
* 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting
* 2017 Istanbul nightclub shooting
* 2017 Little Rock nightclub shooting
* 2018 Thousand Oaks shooting
* 2019 Salamanca nightclub shooting
* 2019 Coatzacoalcos nightclub fire
* 2022 Oslo shootings
* 2022 Colorado Springs nightclub shooting

Other|

* 1925 Pickwick Club collapse
* 2022 Enyobeni Tavern disaster (cause of death unknown)

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