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List of aircraft hijackings and attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups
Aircraft hijacking incidents involving
palestinian groups relating mainly to the
Arab-Israeli conflict were at their height between 1968 and 1972 [1]. These incidents have widely been attributed to
terrorism and attempts to force the release of Palestinian security prisoners in
Israel and draw attention to the conflict [2]. Hightened measures by airlines and governments contributed to a gradual reduction of reported incidents towards the mid-1970s [1]. Governmental measures included the introduction of metal detectors in airports.
Below is a non-comprehensive list of hijacking incidents of aircraft and attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups.
December 26, 1968: The
El Al Flight 253 attack was a terrorist attack by the
PLO. Two palestinians
Mahmoud Mohammad Issa Mohammad and Naheb H. Suleiman opened fire with submachine guns and handgrenades while the plane was preparing for takeoff. One male passenger was killed, and two female passengers were injured. Both terrorists survived.
February 18, 1969:
El Al Flight 432, A
Boeing 720 on a stopover from
Amsterdam to
Tel Aviv via
Zürich, was attacked on the ground in Zurich International Airport. Four armed Palestinians from PFLP attacked the aircraft with
AK-47 rifles and grenades. The leader of the terrorists were killed by an armed Israeli security guard onboard the aircraft. One crew member were shot and later died of his wounds, and several passeners were injured.
September 6, 1970: As part of the
Dawson's Field hijackings by PFLP members, the hijacking of El Al Flight 219 from
Amsterdam (a
Boeing 707) was foiled: hijacker
Patrick Argüello was shot and killed, and his partner
Leila Khaled was subdued and turned over to British authorities in London.
September 6, 1970: As part of the
Dawson's Field hijackings by
PFLP members, two hijackers who were prevented from boarding the El Al flight, hijacked instead
Pan AmFlight 93, a
Boeing 747, diverting the large plane first to
Beirut and then to
Cairo, rather than to the small Jordanian airstrip.
February 22, 1972:
Lufthansa Flight 649, a Boeing 747-200 from Tokyo to Frankfurt, was hijacked by a group commandeered by the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the
Delhi-
Athens leg and forced to divert to
Aden, where all 182 passengers and crew were released the next day in exchange for a $5 million ransom.[10]
May 8, 1972:
Sabena Flight 571 from
Vienna to
Tel Aviv was taken over by four members of the Palestinian
Black September movement. The plane diverted to
Lod airport, where the hijackers demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, or the plane would be blown up. It was stormed by israeli
Sayeret Matkal special forces. Two future Israeli prime ministers,
Ehud Barak and
Benjamin Netanyahu took part in the rescue. Two of the hijackers were killed along with one female passenger.
October 29, 1972:
Lufthansa Flight 615, a Boeing 727, from
Beirut to Frankfurt, piloted by capt. Walter Claussen, was hijacked by three men and flown to
Zagreb, asking for the liberation of the three surviving perpetrators of the
Munich Massacre on 5 September that year. After boarding the three liberated men, the plane was redirected to
Tripoli, Libya where all hostages were finally released.[11][12]
July 20, 1973:
Japan Airlines Flight 404 was a
Boeing 747-246B hijacked just after takeoff from
Schiphol Airport en route to
Tokyo. The hijackers were four member of
PFLP and a member of the
Japanese Red Army. The plane flew to Dubai, then Damascus before ending in Libya. All passengers and crew were released after 89 hours, but the aircraft was destroyed on the ground in Benghazi, Libya.
November 25, 1973: A
KLM Boeing 747, "Mississippi", was hijacked by three young Arabs over
Iraqi airspace on a scheduled
Amsterdam-
Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board. After the hijackers threatened to blow up the plane when no country would grant landing permission, the plane landed in
Malta. Most of the passengers and the eight flight attendants were released after negotiations with the Maltese
PMDom Mintoff who argued with the hijackers that the plane could not possibly take off with both the passengers and the 27,000 gallons of fuel they had demanded given the (then) short runway. With 11 passengers on board the jumbo jet left Malta to Dubai where the incident ended without fatalities.[14]
December 17, 1973:
1973 Rome airport attacks and hijacking Five heavily armed Palestinian members of
PLO invaded
Rome-Fiumicino Airport and killed two people while making their way to
Pan Am Flight 110 which was preparing to leave the gate. The destroyed the airplane and killed 30 passengers and crew. Then they hijacked
Lufthansa Flight 303 and flew to Athens where one passenger was killed. They refueled and flew on to Damascus in Syria, where they again refueled. The final stop was Kuwait where all hostages was released, after the terrorists negotiated a free passage for themselves.
September 8, 1974:
TWA Flight 841 (1974) from
Tel Aviv-Lod International Airport to New York City via Athens and Rome, crashed into the Ionian Sea killing all 88 passengers and crew. The source of the crash was a bomb in the cargo hold, believed to have been planted by the "National Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine", a group associated with the
Abu Nidal Organization.[15]
October 13, 1977:
Lufthansa Flight 181 (also known as the Landshut) was hijacked by Palestinian hijackers on a flight from
Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt. The ordeal ended in
Mogadishu,
Somalia when
GSG 9 commandos stormed the plane. Three hijackers were killed and 86 hostages were freed. The pilot was killed before the raid. The hand of West Germany's
Red Army Faction was suspected.
1980s
August 11, 1982:
Pan Am Flight 830 was enroute to Los Angeles, California via Hawaii when a bomb planted on the aircraft exploded. The bomb had been planted by Mohammed Rashed, a Jordanian linked to the
15 May Organization. One passenger was killed by the blast, but the pilot was able to land the plane safely at
Honolulu International Airport.
September 23, 1983:
Gulf Air Flight 771 blew up in mid-flight after a bomb exploded in the bagage compartment. The plane was enroute from
Karachi to
Abu Dhabi. 112 passengers and crew died. The bomb was planted by the militant palestinian
Abu Nidal Organization in an attempt to pressure
Saudi Arabia to pay protection money to avoid attacks on their own soil.
November 23, 1985: Three
Palestinian members of the
Abu Nidal Organization hijacked its Athens to Cairo route,
EgyptAir Flight 648 and demanded that it fly to Malta. All together, 60 people died, most of them when Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft.
April 2, 1986:
TWA Flight 840 bombing was a Boeing 727-231 from
Los Angeles to Cairo, via New York City, Rome and Athens. A bomb planted by a woman from the
Abu Nidal Organization exploded shortly before landing in Athens blasting a hole in the airplane's starboard side. Four passengers died after being blown out. The aircraft made a successful emergency landing.
September 5, 1986: 22 people were killed when
Pakistani security forces stormed
Boeing 747-121Pan Am Flight 73 at Karachi, carrying 360 passengers and crew after a 16-hour siege. The flight was en route to
Frankfurt from Mumbai, India, when the flight was hijacked on the ground in Karachi by four armed terrorists of the
Abu Nidal Organization. On 19 February 2016, the
Bollywood movie Neerja, based on this hijacking, was released.
1990s
September 3, 1996:
Hemus Air Tu-154 aircraft was hijacked by the Palestinian Nadir Abdallah, flying from Beirut to
Varna. The hijacker demanded that the aircraft be refuelled and given passage to
Oslo, Norway after landing at
Varna Airport. All of the 150 passengers were freed at Varna; afterwards the crew continued the flight to
Oslo, where the hijacker surrendered and asked for political asylum.[16]