Fiber metal laminates (FMLs) are widely used in a variety of protective structures due to their excellent impact resistance. In the present work, a nonlinear finite element (FE) model is developed to investigate the damage behavior of carbon fiber reinforced aluminum laminates (CRALLs) under high velocity fragments impact. The strain rate effect of composite ply is involved and the intra-laminar damage is predicted based on 3D Hashin criteria; Johnson-cook model is employed to simulate the high velocity fragments impact response of aluminum layer; cohesive elements are introduced to describe the inter-laminar delamination phenomena. The proposed FE model is verified with the available experimental data in ballistic impact condition and then implemented to predict the fragments impact behavior of FMLs. The dynamic response and damage mechanism of FMLs are analyzed and the effects of explosion distance, explosion mass and impact angle on the impact performance are discussed in detail.