Terrorism in Yugoslavia

Ustashe terrorism continued over the years after Ante Pavelić's death. The Croatian Liberation Movement (HOP) conducted several assassinations and attacks on Yugoslav diplomacy and JAT representations in Australia.[1] Between 1962 and 1982, Croatian nationalists carried out 128 terror attacks against Yugoslav civilian and military targets.[2] Croat fascist and HSO member Miljenko Hrkać carried out the bombing of a Belgrade cinema in September 1968, leaving one dead and 85 wounded.[3] In 1969, two Yugoslav diplomats in Western Germany were shot and wounded by Ustashe assassins.[3] In 1970, Yugoslav secretary Vladimir Rolović handed over information on Ustashe and their involvement in terrorist actions to the Australian government (which had tolerated and even trained the Ustashe).[4] The following year, two Ustashe youngsters murdered Rolović while he was the ambassador to Sweden.[4] In January 1972, a JAT plane was bombed by Ustashe agents.[4] The crackdown on the Croatian leadership led to heightened anti-Yugoslav activity by Croat emigrant groups. On 29 March 1972 a Yugoslav tourist office was bombed in Stockholm.[5] The last members of the Bugojno group were captured, tried and sentenced on 21 December 1972.

In 1975, Nikola Kavaja, a diaspora Chetnik-sympathizer living in Chicago and belonging to the Serbian National Defense Council (SNDC), was, at his own initiative, responsible for bombing a Yugoslav consul's home, the first in a series of attacks targeting the Yugoslav state in the United States and Canada. He and his co-conspirators were captured in a sting set up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and convicted for terrorism for the incident and for planning to bomb two Yugoslav receptions on Yugoslavia's National Day. Later that year, during his flight to receive his sentence, he hijacked the American Airlines Flight 293 with the intention of crashing the plane into Tito's Belgrade headquarters, but was dissuaded; he ultimately received a 67-year prison sentence.[6]

• Assassination of Alexander I of Yugoslavia, 9 October 1934, by IMRO assassin, organized with Ustashe help.

• Plot to assassinate Josip Broz Tito, 1967, by HRB.
• Belgrade cinema bombing, 13 July 1968, at 21.05 CET, a bomb detonated in the Belgrade cinema "20. oktobar". One person was killed and 85 injured, some seriously. The bomb was placed under the sixth seat of the 16th row, during the movie Risifi u Panami, allegedly by HOP and HRB member Miljenko Hrkać.
• JAT Flight 367, 26 January 1972, bomb exploded during flight, 27 out of 28 dead (Vesna Vulović survived), by Ustashe.
• Bugojno group attacks, 20 June–24 July 1972, by HRB.
• Hijacking of Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130, 15–16 September 1972, by HNO.
• Hijacking of TWA Flight 355, September 10 1976, by Ustashe.
• New York–Chicago plane hijack, 1979, Boeing 727 with 137 passengers hijacked by Serb emigrant and anti-communist (Chetnik) Nikola Kavaja. Arrested and sentenced to 20 years.