On December 25th 2020, a suicide bomber detonated a bomb contained in a large van in Nashville, United States, injuring eight people and damaging dozens of buildings including an AT&T facility. The explosion caused extensive damage to the AT&T network hub, resulting in at least 48 hours of communication service outages.

The FBI is leading the investigation and have determined the bomber was 63-year-old Anthony Quinn Warner, a Nashville resident and they believe him to have acted alone. Prior to the incident the perpetrator used a HIFI system with speakers in the van to issue a series of evacuation warnings, further confirming the incident was entirely premeditated. Several vehicles were burned during the bombing, an estimated 50 business premises were damaged, and one building located across from the site of the bombing collapsed. Reflecting its immediate proximity, experts believe the AT&T building may have been a target.

The damage extended across an unusually wide area with debris from the explosion believed to have landed on a building about two blocks away from the initial location & shrapnel was found embedded in buildings within a five-block radius of the blast site. Police immediately cordoned off an area with a 10-block radius of the incident. In addition, the FAA issued a notice declaring a circular area with a radius of 1 mile cantered around the explosion, as "National Defence Airspace", effective that afternoon and lasting for five days. Whilst FBI & police investigations continue, the nature, range & extent of damage lead leads experts to believe the incident must have required substantial planning & almost certainly another of the increasing number of incidents relating to domestic terrorism in the United States. If the Nashville suicide bombing is classified as terrorism, business owners without Terrorism Insurance will fall short, not being able to claim a dollar from their coverage.

Other US Domestic Terrorism incidents occurring in the past 5 years include:

• 2015 Charleston church shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina by Dylann Roof[31]
• 2015 Lafayette shooting at Grand 16 movie theatre in Lafayette, Louisiana by John "Rusty" Russell Houser.
• 2015 Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado by Robert Lewis Dear
• 2015 San Bernardino attack at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California by Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik[35]
• 2015 Chattanooga shootings at the Armed Forces Career Center and U.S. Navy Reserve center in Chattanooga, Tennessee by Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez[36]
• 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting at Pulse LGBT nighclub in Orlando, Florida by Omar Mateen[37]
• 2017 Stabbing of Timothy Caughman at Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, New York City by James Harris Jackson
• 2017 Stabbing of Richard Collins III at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland by Sean Urbanski
• 2017 Congressional baseball shooting at the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity in Alexandria, Virginia by James Thomas Hodgkinson
• 2017 Fresno shootings at Motel 6 and downtown Fresno in Fresno, California by Kori Ali Muhammad
• 2017 Charlottesville car attack during the Charlottesville riots/Unite the Right rally at Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia by James Alex Fields
• 2017 Burnette Chapel shooting at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee by Emanuel Kidega Samson.
• 2018 October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts across various cities in the United States by Cesar Alteri Sayoc Jr.
• 2018 Murder of Blaze Bernstein at Borrego Park in Lake Forest, California by Samuel Woodard/Atomwaffen Division
• 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting at Tree of Life - Or L'Simcha Congregation by Robert Bowers
• 2019 Christopher Paul Hasson's attempted assassination of Democrat, left-wing, and socialist politicians and journalists
• 2019 Escondido mosque fire and Poway synagogue shooting at Dar-ul-Arqam mosque and Chabad of Poway in Escondido, California and Poway, California by John T. Earnest
• 2019 Tacoma attack at an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington by Willem van Spronsen
• 2019 El Paso shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas by Patrick Crusius
• 2020 Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot planned by far-right militia group Wolverine Watchme. 

The recency and scale of these US domestic terrorism incidences highlights the unfortunate prevalence and increasing threat of terrorist ideology in western society. Geo Specialty offers market leading Terrorism cover for both the UK and international markets to help business ensure they are prepared should the worst occur.