Home Programs National security Air India review Lessons to be learned: The report of the Honourable Bob Rae Appendix 3

Appendix 3

Chronology of aviation terrorism 1948–2001

Source: Gero, David, Flights of Terror - Aerial Hijack and Sabotage Since 1930 (1997)

1948

• Hijacking of CSA flight from Prague to Bratislava.

1949

• Canada - September 9th, Quebec region, near Sault Au Cochon, Quebec: a bomb exploded in a forward baggage compartment of a Quebec Airways (Canadian Pacific) DC-3; 23 people died.

1956

• New Greek Cypriot EOKA bombing campaign starts against British rule in Cyprus leading to the destruction of a British aircraft at Nicosia airport on 3 March and a Dakota on 27 April 1956. Violence continues for four years until Cyprus is granted independence.

1959

• The hijacking of a Pan Am flight during the coup in Peru hijacking of a Cuban internal flight by Raule Castro in 1959 as the first political hijacking.
• Cuban airliner hijacked by the Twenty-Sixth of July Movement and forced to attempt night landing in remote airfield in Cuba. The aircraft crashed killing seventeen of the twenty people on board.

1961

• First ever United States aircraft hijacked and forced to fly to Communist Cuba. Puerto Rican born Abntulio Ramirez Ortiz forced the National Airlines Corvair 440 to fly to Havana at gun point and was then given asylum. He was jailed for twenty years when he returned to the US in 1975.

1965

• Seven British children were injured when a grenade was thrown at the Aden airport terminal in Yemen.

1965

• Canada, British Columbia, Canadian Pacific Airlines Douglas DC-6B, mid-air collision, believed to be a sabotage act, all 52 people died.

1966

• El Condor nationalists hijack Argentine aircraft from Buenos Aires to the British ruled Falklands in a bid to bring attention to Argentina’s claim to the islands. They eventually surrendered their hostages and were returned to Argentina by the British authorities.
• A DC-3 aircraft was blown up in mid-air near Aden, Yemen, killing all twenty-eight people on board. The bomb was placed in the baggage area of the aircraft.

1967

• An aircraft carrying Katangan rebel leader Moise Tshombe was hijacked en route to Ibiza, Spain, and forced to land in Algeria in a bid to extradite him to his native Congo. The Algerians kept him under house arrest until he died two years later.
• A British European Airways Comet aircraft was destroyed by a bomb, which detonated in the passenger cabin over Rhodes, Greece. All 66 people on board were killed.

1968

• A Delta Airlines DC8 was forced to fly to Havana, Cuba, in the first successful hijacking of a US commercial airliner since 1961. The hijacker was granted political asylum.
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine seized an El Al Boeing 707 in Rome, Italy, and diverted it to Algeria. 32 Jewish passengers were held hostages for five weeks.
• An Israeli was killed in a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine machine gun attack on El Al aircraft at Athens airport, Greece. Two terrorists were captured but later released by the Greek government after a Greek aircraft was hijacked to Beirut. Three days after the Athens attack, Israeli commandos raid Beirut airport, Lebanon and blow up 13 Arab airliners worth $43 million.

1969

• Palestinian terrorists attack El Al Boeing 707 on runway at Zurich airport, Switzerland, raking the fuselage with gunfire, killing the pilot and three passengers. An Israeli sky marshal/security guard returned fire killing one of the terrorists.
• A TWA aircraft hijacked by Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists after taking off from Rome, Italy, and forced to fly to Damascus, Syria. All of the passengers and crew were released unharmed but the terrorists exploded a bomb in the cockpit of the aircraft.

1970

• Three Arab terrorists attempted to hijack an El Al Boeing 707 at Munich airport, Germany, but are thwarted by the pilot who grappled with a terrorist in the terminal lounge. An Israeli was killed and eleven others wounded.
• “Skyjack Sunday” took place at Dawson Field, Jordan. TWA, Swissair, BOAC aircraft, along with more than four hundred hostages, were hijacked and ordered to the Jordanian airport by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Another terrorist team tried to hijack an El Al Boeing over London but security staff foiled the attempt. The German, Swiss and British Governments all agreed to the PFLP’s demands and released a number of terrorists held in their jails.

1971

• Canada - A terrorist allegedly hijacked Air Canada Flight 932 while the plane was in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to Toronto. He allegedly brandished a handgun and a grenade and demanded to be flown to Cuba.

1972

• Israeli commandos stormed a hijacked Belgian Sabena aircraft at Ben Gurion airport, Israel. Four Palestinian Black September terrorists on board the aircraft were killed and the hostages freed. One passenger and five Israeli soldiers were killed.
• The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Japanese Red Army terrorists opened fire in the passenger terminal of Lod Airport, Israel. 26 civilians were killed and seventy-eight wounded.

1973

• A Black September suicide squad attacked the passenger terminals at Athens airport, Greece, killing three civilians and injuring 55.
• Palestinian terrorists bomb a Pan Am office at Fiumicino airport, Rome, Italy. 32 people were killed and 50 injured. The terrorist then took seven Italian policemen hostage and hijacked an aircraft to Athens, Greece. After killing one of the hostages, they flew on to Kuwait. The terrorist eventually surrendered.

1974

• A British DC-b aircraft was hijacked at Dubai, UAE, by Palestinian Rejectionist Front terrorists. The aircraft was flown to Tunisia where a German passenger was killed.
• A Trans-World Airlines jet with 88 people aboard crashed off the coast of Greece following an explosion in the baggage compartment. The attack was the work of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. (Source — TC’s Intelligence Branch).

1975

• Arab terrorists attacked Orly airport, Paris, France, seizing ten hostages in a terminal bathroom. Eventually the French provided the terrorists with a plane to fly them to Baghdad, Iraq.

1976

• An Air France aircraft was hijacked by a joint German Baader-Meinhof/Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group and its crew were forced to fly to Entebbe airport in Uganda. Some two hundred and fifty eight passengers and crew were held hostage but all non-Israeli passengers were eventually released. On 4 July Israeli commandos flew to Uganda and rescued the remaining hostages. All of the terrorists were killed in the rescue, as were three passengers and one commando.
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Japanese Red Army terrorists attacked a passenger terminal at Istanbul airport, Turkey, killing four civilians and injuring twenty.
• A TWA aircraft en route from New York, United States, to Paris, France was hijacked by Croatian terrorists, seizing 93 hostages. The terrorists surrendered in Paris and released their hostages.
• A New York policeman was killed by a bomb left by the terrorists in a locker in Grand Central Station.

1977

• Four Palestinian terrorists hijacked a German Lufthansa Boeing 737 and ordered it to fly around a number of Middle East destinations for four days. After the terrorists killed the plane’s pilot, the aircraft was stormed by German GSG9 counter-terrorist troops, assisted by two British Army Special Air Service soldiers, when it landed at Mogadishu, Somalia. All the ninety hostages were rescued and three terrorists were killed.

1978

• An aircraft was hijacked at Larnica airport, Cyprus by Arab terrorists who had just murdered a leading Egyptian publisher at a nearby hotel. After being refused permission to land at a number of Arab capitals the hijackers returned to Larnica. Egyptian commandos landed and tried to attack the plane but resulted in a gun battle with Cypriot troops. Fifteen Egyptian troops, seven Cypriot soldiers and a German cameraman were killed.
• An El Al stewardess was killed when the crew bus ambushed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists outside the Europa Hotel, London, England.
• 12 people were injured in a bomb explosion on an American Airlines flight in the United States. The so-called Unabomber is held responsible for the incident.
• An Air Florida flight from Key West to Miami, United States, was hijacked by seven Cubans and flown to Cuba, where they released their hostages and were taken into custody. Six further US aircraft were hijacked to Cuba over the next month. All the passengers were released unharmed.
• Three passengers were killed when Cubans hijacked an aircraft in Peru and demanded to be flown to the United States.
• The president of United Airlines was injured in a bomb attack in Chicago, United States, that was blamed on the Unabomber.
• Four Iranian hijackers were killed when Turkish security forces stormed a hijacked Turkish Airlines aircraft after it landed in eastern Turkey. The terrorists killed one of the 155 hostages.

1984

• A Kuwaiti aircraft was hijacked en route to Pakistan from Dubai by Iranian backed Iraqi Shia terrorists. The aircraft was forced to land in the Iranian capital, Tehran, after two Americans had been killed. The terrorists surrendered to the Iranian authorities and were later released.

1985

• A Red Army Faction bomb exploded at Frankfurt Airport, Germany, killing three people.
• A TWA Boeing 727 was hijacked en route to Rome, Italy, from Athens, Greece, by two Lebanese Hezbollah terrorists and forced it to fly to Beirut, Lebanon. The eight crew and one hundred and forty five passengers were then held for seventeen days, during which time one of the American hostages was murdered. After being flown twice to Algiers, on the aircraft’s return to Beirut the hostages were released after the US Government pressured the Israelis to release four hundred and thirty five Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.
• TWA Flight 847 was hijacked over the Mediterranean, the start of a two-week hostage ordeal. The hijackers, linked to Hezbollah, demanded the release of prisoners being held in Kuwait as well as the release of 700 Shiite Muslim prisoners being held in Israeli and Lebanese prisons. A US Navy diver was killed and 39 passengers were held hostage when the demands were not met. The passengers were eventually released in Damascus after being held in various locations in Beirut.
• An Air India Boeing 747 was destroyed by a bomb over the Atlantic, killing all three hundred and twenty nine people on board the aircraft. Sikh terrorists were blamed for the attack, which was the worst single terrorist incident to date.
• Two cargo handlers were killed at Tokyo [Narita] airport when another bomb [attributed to Sikh extremists] placed in a bag offloaded from a CP Air flight arriving from Vancouver, and en route for an Air India flight] exploded [in the transit area].
• 98 passengers and crew of an Egypt Air aircraft were held hostage by Palestinian terrorists at Luqa, Malta. Five passengers were shot by the terrorists and two died. An assault by Egyptian Force 777 commandos resulted in some 57 passengers being killed when the terrorists set off explosives in the aircraft.
• A suicide grenade and gun attacks against passenger terminals at Rome and Vienna airports by the Abu Nidal terrorist group resulted in 16 people being killed and more than 100 civilians being injured.
• A Pan Am 747 was seized by Arab terrorists in Pakistan. They killed seventeen hostages and wounded another 127 after panicking and thinking they were under attack. Pakistani security forces then stormed the aircraft and freed the hostages.

1988

• 122 people were held hostage after a Kuwaiti Boeing 747 was hijacked and diverted to Mashad, Iran, before flying on to Cyprus. The Kuwait Government refused requests by the Iranian-backed Shia hijackers to release 17 convicted terrorists. After 15 days the hijackers were granted asylum in Algeria and released their hostages unharmed.
• A Pan Am Boeing 747 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb believed to have been placed on the aircraft at Frankfurt Airport, Germany. All 259 people on the aircraft were killed by the blast which has been attributed to a number of Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Two Libyan intelligence operatives were committed in connection with this attack.

1989

• 127 people were killed when a French UTA aircraft exploded in midair over Niger. The French government issued warrants for the arrest of four Libyans.

1994

• Rwandan president Juvenel Habyarimana was killed when his aircraft was shot down by surface-to-air missile while approaching Kigali airport, Rwanda, on his return from a regional government leaders meeting. The incident sparked a massive outbreak of ethnic violence that resulted in more than a million people being killed.
• An Air France Airbus was seized by Algerian Islamic terrorists and forced to fly to Marseilles airport, France. All of the terrorists were killed when French CIGN counterterrorist troops stormed the aircraft and rescued the 170 passengers and crew, 16 of whom suffered minor injuries.

1996

• Two Cuban MiG fighters shot down a light aircraft flown by four Cuban exiles of the “Brothers to the Rescue” organization over the Gulf of Mexico.
• Six Iraqi dissidents hijacked a Sudan Airways A3l0 Airbus airliner en route from Khartoom to Jordan and divert it to Stansted, England. After negotiating with British authorities the hijackers released all of the 13 crew and 180 passengers unharmed.
• An Ethopian Airways Boeing 767 was hijacked en route from Addis Adaba to Niarobi and diverted to Australia. It ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros Islands killing 123 people. Fifty-two people including two hijackers survived.

1998

• A Spanish Boeing 727 aircraft was hijacked on an internal flight, with 130 people on board. All were eventually freed unharmed after the single hijacker gave himself up.
• An Air France Flight 8969, bound for Paris from Algiers, was hijacked by the Algerian terrorist organization Armed Islamic Group (GIA). The four hijackers boarded the aircraft disguised as Air Algerie security staff. Authorities delayed departure, but were intimidated into giving the go-ahead when the hijackers killed 2 of the 227 persons on board. The French government decided not to allow the aircraft to approach Paris because its consulate in Oran, Algeria, had received an intelligence warning that the hijackers intended to blow up the aircraft over Paris. The flight crew convinced the hijackers that refueling in Marseille was required. After the aircraft touched down hours of negotiations ensued, whereupon the terrorists demanded fuel. French police commandos (GIGN) stormed the aircraft and after a 20 minute gunfight successfully rescued the 161 remaining passengers (some had been released during negotiations) and 3 flight crew.

2001

• Four passenger jets were hijacked and two of them were deliberately crashed into the towers of the New York World Trade Centre. Both 110-storey buildings were demolished within an hour after impact, killing more than 2,800 people. The third aircraft was deliberately flown into the side of the Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth aircraft was crashed into the ground outside of Pittsburgh. There were reports that that aircraft was headed for the White House of the US Capitol building.