November 1 attacks

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November 1 attacks
Part of the Anni horribiles
Riverside bombings.png
The Guild Quarter was badly damaged by the attacks, with a number of buildings damaged beyond repair.
Date1 November 2006; 17 years ago (2006-11-01)
TargetBank of Estmere
Parliament Building
Department of the Treasury
Guild Quarter financial district
The Needle
Folkmoot Building
Attack type
Car bombings
Mass shooting
Suicide bombings
Deaths872
Non-fatal injuries
3,905
PerpetratorNew Black Hand
MotiveNeo-Sattarism
Anti-imperialism
Anti-Easternism

The November 1 attacks, commonly known as 1/11 or the All Saints' Day attacks, were a series of coordinated terror attacks in Estmere, conducted by the New Black Hand, a splinter group from the Black Hand, on November 1, 2006. The attacks targeted high-profile financial and government institutions mostly in the capital city of Morwall, including the Parliament of Estmere, the Bank of Estmere and a number of company headquarters in the Guild Quarter financial district, including the the Needle. The attacks led to the deaths of 872 people, and resulted in 3,905 being injured.

The attacks were coordinated by a number of terrorist cells affiliated with the Black Hand of International Liberation, a neo-Sattarist and anti-imperialist group that harboured anti-eastern sentiments. The group was opposed to percieved Estmerish neocolonialism, believing that the Estmerish government and Estmerish financial institutions were engaged in a conspiracy to deliberately stunt the development of the Global South. Many of the participants claimed to have been radicalised by ongoing Estmerish military interventions and political interference in former colonies such as Padaratha.

The attacks began at around 9am, coinciding with rush hour. The attacks used a mixture of mass shootings, car bombs and suicide attacks. The Bank of Estmere and the Department of the Treasury were the first attacked, with attacks against corporate headquarters in the Guild Quarter including the Needle occuring roughly 10 minutes later. Parliament Building was targeted around 9:30am, though Prime Minister Heidi Reid and most Members of Parliament had been evacuated by this point and the attack was ultimately thwarted. A further attack on the Folkmoot Building in Tolbury was also thwarted.

It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Estmerish history, exceeding the casualties of the 1979 embassy crisis. The attack was one of the first terrorist attacks to be widely televised, and it became firmly engrained in public memory. The attack led to the tightening of security restrictions across the world, and combined with the ongoing recession to create the Anni horribles in the popular imagination.

Background

Black Hand of International Liberation

Though lacking official leadership, Hossein Hosseini was widely seen as leader of the new Black Hand.

The origin of the perpetrators lay with the Black Hand of National Liberation, a militant Sattarist and pan-Zorasanist group which played a prominent role in Zorasani Unification. The original Black Hand was dissolved in 1979, but a number of splinter groups persisted. One of these was the Black Hand of International Liberation, a radical offshoot which emphasised anti-Easternism, pan-Coianism and neo-Sattarism, and became known as the New Black Hand.

The group had no formal leadership, operating in a cell structure, though Hossein Hosseini was considered a prominent spiritual leader. Hosseini was a Pardarani veteran of the Irvadistan War, and held Estmere responsible for the deaths of his compatriots during that war. Estmere at the time was a firm supporter of the defunct Emirate of Irvadistan, and hoped to restore Emir Muqrin Ali to the throne following his overthrow in the Irvadi Socialist Revolution. As such Estmere provided materiel support to any forces fighting against Zorasan. This was preceded by Estmerish intervention during Zorasani unification in general.

Motives

Estmerish foreign policy was considered the epitome of eastern neo-colonialism. The Black Hand of International Liberation considered recent Estmerish interventions in Mabifia and Tsabara to be neo-imperialist in nature, and ultimately part of a wider conspiracy between the Estmerish government and financial institutions to halt the development of Couis and ensure eastern hegemony globally. Hossein Hosseini specifically was radicalised by Estmerish involvement in the Irvadistan War. In the aftermath of the attacks, Hosseini released a tape which stated the Black Hand's reasons for the attacks, including:

Attacks

Initial attacks

Guild Quarter attacks

Thwarted later attacks

Aftermath and legacy

President Alan Baskerville gained a reputation for ensuring stability in the immediate aftermath of the bombings, urging calm and for the nation to "pull together". He worked with Prime Minister Heidi Reid and SDU leader Matthew Dawson to bring about a government of national unity comprising both major parties, with Dawson becoming Deputy Prime Minister. The new government responded to the attacks by strengthening Estmerish security services, launching an investigation into how Estmerish intelligence had failed to foresee the attacks, and by tightening security restrictions. The government passed a number of bills which were seen to prioritise security over personal liberty.

Reid described the attacks as "a vindicative attack on Estmerish sovereignty and on the liberty of the entire free world", also commenting that "blame lies entirely at Zorasan's feet". Similar comments were made by Dawson and Baskerville. The attacks had a negative effect on Estmerish-Zorasani relations which had been previously recovering. A number of academics have cited the attacks as a turning point in relations, presaging the later Estmere-Zorasan Crisis, with comments laying blame for the attack with Zorasan helping to lead to the Axis of evil rhetoric of Reginald Wilton-Smyth.

Memorials