Assassination Attempts Around The World (PHOTOS)

Senior Hamas military commander Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh was assassinated Jan. 19, 2010 at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai. The cause of death has never been confirmed, though Dubai police have voiced their suspicions that the veteran operative of the Palestinian militant group was murdered in his hotel room, with accounts of the cause of his death ranging from suffocation to electrocution. 

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated Feb. 14, 2005 when explosives equivalent to around 1000 kg of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove past the St. George Hotel in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. His killing led to massive political change in Lebanon, including the Cedar Revolution, the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the current toppling of the Lebanese government.

Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was assassinated on Jan. 4, 2011 by his own security guard, who disagreed with Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's blasphemy law.

President of Guinea-Bissau, João Bernardo "Nino" Vieira was killed by soldiers on March 2, 2009, apparently in retaliation for a bomb blast that killed Guinea-Bissau's military chief General Batista Tagme Na Waie. Vieira described himself as "God's gift" to Guinea-Bissau during his tenure in office.

Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was killed Feb. 28, 1986 by a lone gunner in central Stockholm. Captured Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan later accused his ex-wife of ordering Palme's assassination.

On April 28, 2008, Afghan President Hamid Karzai survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban during a military parade marking the 16th anniversary of the fall of the Soviet-backed communist Government in Kabul. Three people, including an Afghan MP and a child, were killed and 11 injured in the attack after a group of gunmen opened fire on a military parade.

On March 12, 2003, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was killed by gunshot while walking to the main Serbian government building to meet the with Swedish officials. Bodyguard Milan Veruović was also seriously wounded in the stomach by another shot. Gunman Zvezdan Jovanović later stated he killed Djindjic because he saw him as a traitor to Serbia.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot dead Nov. 4, 1995 by Yigal Amir, a radical right-wing Orthodox Jew who opposed Rabin's peace initiative and the signing of the Oslo Accords. 

In Aug. 2010, Iranian news agencies carried reports of a thwarted grenade attack on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during one of his national provincial tours, but his spokesmen later denied the claims. 

The volatile nature of global politics means attempts are made regularly on the lives of both politicians and prominent figures. Earlier this year, Pakistani Governor Salmaan Taseer was killed by his own security guard, while in 2007, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was shot dead at a political rally in Rawalpindi. Others were more fortunate: in 2009, the Netherlands' Queen Beatrix survived an apparentassassination attempt.

Kambichek Tashiyev, head of the Kyrgyz Ata-Zhurt party, has claimed he was wounded in an October 2010 assassination attempt outside his home in suburban Bishkek after being attacked by about 50 men and beaten with the bottom of a handgun.

In April 2009, at least four people were killed and 13 seriously injured when a young driver sped through a crowd in an apparent assassination attempt on Queen Beatrix and the Dutch royal family.