(WSVN) - In 2016, there were more than 1,200 terror attacks in more than 50 countries — including here in the United States. 7News takes a look back in tonight’s edition of 7’s Top 7.
Bombings… Shootings… Lone wolf attacks. From the Middle East to Europe and the United States, ISIS followers continued a reign of terror around the globe. Including the deadliest mass shooting on U.S. Soil.
On June 12, rapid gunshots broke out in the crowded Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
Witness: “Oh my God. They’re all shooting back and forth.”
Police and gunman Omar Mateen exchanged gunfire twice, while many desperate patrons were trapped inside. Many crowded into bathrooms and hid under bars.
Victim: “You’re trapped. Everybody is — you’re crammed in there. You can’t move. You’re staying low. The shots sound like they’re getting closer, closer and closer.”
Police body cameras and cell phones recorded the chaos.
Omar Mateen to 911 dispatch: “I want to let you know I’m in Orlando and I did the shooting.”
The suspect called police several times during the three-hour standoff.
Omar Mateen to 911 dispatch: “I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi of the Islamic State. You have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. They’re killing a lot of innocent people.”
Mateen killed 49 people at the night club and wounded 53 others before he was killed in a shootout with police.
Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orlando: “This is probably the most difficult day in the history of Orlando. We will not be defined by a hateful shooter.”
President Barack Obama: “And as Americans, we are united in grief, outrage and in resolve to defend our people.”
France was once again united in grief after yet another deadly terror attack.
An ISIS sympathizer used a huge truck as a weapon. He plowed through a Bastille Day celebration in the French city of Nice…
Witness: “Out of nowhere, this panic erupted from the streets.”
Eighty-six people were killed, including three Americans. The truck injured 434 people.
The driver of the truck was killed by police.
Thirty-two people were killed in three coordinated suicide bombings in Brussels, Belgium.
On March 22, two suicide bombers were caught on camera casually walking into the airport terminal. A few minutes later, two explosions sent passengers running.
A short time later, another explosion, this time on a subway train.
Witness: “I can’t explain. It looked like war. It’s unbelievable. It’s really hard.”
Injured passengers were forced to walk through a pitch black tunnel to safety.
There was also terror in the terminal in Turkey.
Three suicide bombers opened fire with assault rifles and then detonated body bombs, killing 45 at the busy Istanbul, Turkey airport.
Witness: “We were just running. There was no instruction. We ran in one direction, and somebody said, ‘No, the terrorists are over there.’ Then you ran in the other.”
Two-hundred-thirty-nine people were injured.
A young South Florida college student killed in a horrifying terror attack in Bangladesh.
Witness: “They were shooting in the air.”
Several gunmen stormed the Holy Artisan Bakery. Once inside, they ordered patrons to cite the Quran.
If they could not, they were brutally murdered.
Twenty hostages were killed during the 12-hour siege.
It ended when the military stormed in. Two police officers and six of the gunmen were killed.
Thursday, on 7’s Top 7, we take a look back at the Zika virus and the impact it had on South Florida.
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