Claims News Service, Apr. 19, 11:20 a.m. EDT -- Eleven years agotoday, terrorism was largely considered a homegrown issue thatinvolved local militias and rebels using guerrilla tactics. That'sbecause today, April 19, 2006, is the anniversary of the bombing ofthe Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City by TimothyMcVeigh, a veteran of the first Gulf War and anti-governmentextremist who loaded a truck full of explosives and destroyed athird of the seven-story building, killing 166 people.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the bombingrepresented the eighth worst act of terrorism in the world in termsof insured property losses, which in 2005 dollars, amounts toapproximately $155 million. Since the event occurred, five otherterrorist attacks have joined it on I.I.I.'s list of worstterrorist attacks.

In 1995, terrorist attacks were covered under standardcommercial policies. But after September 11, 2001, insurers beganexcluding coverage, requiring much more expensive additionalcoverage. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which provides agovernmental backstop for insurance companies to limit their lossesin the case of large-scale terrorist attacks, is a temporarysolution first implemented in November 2002 and extended inDecember 2005. It is set to expire at the end of 2007.