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Nearly 3,000 people perished in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, excluding the 19 hijackers. Total insured losses from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon were about $47.1 billion in 2019 dollars, including property, life, and liability insurance claim costs. Loss estimates may differ from estimates calculated by other organizations. It is the worst terrorist attack on record in terms of fatalities and insured property losses.

Both the difficulties of insuring terrorism risk and concerns about the limited availability of terrorism coverage after the 9/11 attacks led to the enactment in 2002 of the Terrorisms Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). The act created the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP), a federal loss-sharing program for certain insured losses resulting from a certified act of terrorism.

Top 20 Costliest Terrorist Acts by Insured Property Losses

(2019 $ millions)

Rank Date Country Location Event Insured
property
loss (1)		 Fatalities
1 Sep. 11, 2001 United States New York, Washington DC,
Pennsylvania		 Hijacked airliners crash into
World Trade Center and Pentagon		 $27,125 (2) 2,982
2 Apr. 24, 1993 United Kingdom London Bomb explodes near NatWest tower
in the financial district		 1,310 1
3 Jun. 15, 1996 United Kingdom Manchester Irish Republican Army (IRA) car bomb
explodes near shopping mall		 1,074 0
4 Apr. 10, 1992 United Kingdom London Bomb explodes in financial district 969 3
5 Feb. 26, 1993 United States New York Bomb explodes in garage of World Trade Center 903 6
6 Jul. 24, 2001 Sri Lanka Colombo Rebels destroy 3 airliners, 8 military aircraft and
heavily damage 3 civilian aircraft		 575 20
7 Feb. 9, 1996 United Kingdom London IRA bomb explodes in South Key Docklands 374 2
8 Jun. 23, 1985 North Atlantic Irish Sea Bomb explodes on board of an Air India Boeing 747 234 329
9 Apr. 19, 1995 United States OK, Oklahoma City Truck bomb detonates outside government building 210 166
10 Sep. 12, 1970 Jordan Zerqa, Dawson's Field
(disused RAF airstrip in desert)		 Hijacked Swissair DC-8, TWA Boeing 707,
BOAC VC-10 dynamited on ground		 183 0
11 Sep. 6, 1970 Egypt Cairo Hijacked PanAm B-747 dynamited on ground 160 0
12 Apr. 11, 1992 United Kingdom London Bomb explodes in financial district 138 0
13 Nov. 26, 2008 India Mumbai Attack on two hotels; Jewish center 122 172
14 Mar. 27, 1993 Germany Weiterstadt Bomb attack on a newly built, still unoccupied prison 102 0
15 Dec. 30, 2006 Spain Madrid Bomb explodes in car garage at Barajas Airport 84 2
16 Dec. 21, 1988 United Kingdom Lockerbie Bomb explodes on board of a PanAm Boeing 747 82 270
17 Jul. 25, 1983 Sri Lanka   Riot 68 0
18 Jul. 7, 2005 United Kingdom London Four bombs explode during rush hour in the London Underground and on a bus 67 52
19 Nov. 23, 1996 Comoros Indian Ocean Hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-260 ditched at sea 65 127
20 Mar. 17, 1992 Argentina Buenos Aires Bomb attack on Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires 55 24

(1) Includes bodily injury and aviation hull losses. Updated to 2019 dollars by the Insurance Information Institute using the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator.
(2) Differs from inflation-adjusted estimates made by other organizations due to the use of different deflators.

Source: Swiss Re, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Insurance Information Institute.

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