On March 2, 1836, the Republic of Texas formally declared its independence from Mexico.

Ten years ago

A suicide attacker rammed an explosives-packed car into American diplomat David Foy’s car in Karachi, Pakistan, killing Foy and three others. The Senate voted 89-10 to renew the USA Patriot Act. “Killer nurse” Charles Cullen, who’d murdered 22 patients in New Jersey alone, was sentenced in Somerville to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Five years ago

A man armed with a handgun attacked a bus carrying U.S. Air Force troops at Frankfurt airport, killing two airmen before being taken into custody. (Arid Uka, an Islamic extremist, was later sentenced to life in prison.) Militants gunned down the only Christian in Pakistan’s Cabinet outside his widowed mother’s home.

One year ago

Iraqi forces launched a large-scale offensive to take Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit from the Islamic State group, the first step in a campaign to reclaim parts of northern Iraq from the Sunni extremists. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who rose to become the longest-serving woman in the history of Congress, announced she would not seek re-election when her fifth term ended.

— By The Associated Press