Today in History: October 12, Bali nightclub bombings kill more than 200

Today is Monday, Oct. 12, the 285th day of 2026. There are 80 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 12, 2002, bombs blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants destroyed two nightclubs on the Indonesian island of Bali, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

Also on this date:

In 1492, Christopher Columbus’s first expedition made landfall on what is now San Salvador Island in the Bahamas.

In 1870, General Robert E. Lee, former overall commander of the Confederate States Army in the Civil War, died in Lexington, Virginia, at age 63.

In 1960, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev protested remarks at the United Nations by pounding his shoe on his desk in the General Assembly Hall.

In 1968, Mexican track and field athlete Enriqueta Basilio became the first woman to light the Olympic flame at the opening ceremonies of the Mexico City Summer Games.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon nominated House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president.

In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher escaped an attempt on her life when an Irish Republican Army bomb exploded at a hotel in Brighton, England, killing five people.

In 1997, musician and activist John Denver died when the experimental light plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay off the California coast.

In 2000, the destroyer USS Cole was attacked by boat-borne al-Qaida suicide bombers during a refueling stop in Yemen’s port city of Aden, killing 17 on board.

In 2019, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge became the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours, crossing the finish line of the INEOS 1:59 Challenge in Vienna, Austria, with a time of 1:59:40.

Today’s Birthdays: Journalist Chris Wallace is 79. Singer-songwriter Jane Siberry is 71. Actor Hiroyuki Sanada is 66. Jazz musician Chris Botti (BOH’-tee) is 64. Actor Hugh Jackman is 58. Country musician Martie Maguire (The Chicks) is 57. Actor Kirk Cameron is 56. Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller is 49. Actor Josh Hutcherson is 34. Actor Ferdia Walsh-Peelo is 27. Actor Iris Apatow is 24. Ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer is 22.