IRAN TRAINS TERRORISTS TO HIJACK, KIDNAP
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
CIA-RDP90B01390R000400580052-6
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
S
Document Page Count:
2
Document Creation Date:
December 23, 2016
Document Release Date:
March 8, 2011
Sequence Number:
52
Case Number:
Publication Date:
January 7, 1986
Content Type:
MISC
File:
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
![]() | 78.78 KB |
Body:
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000400580052-6
Next 1 Page(s) In Document Denied
Iq
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000400580052-6
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000400580052-6
JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA 1
Iran Trains Terrorists
to Hijack, Kidnap
ran is training terrorist; to hijack airliners and
kidnap hostages, with special vengeance t
oward
Americans. This underground warfare, directed
by the Iranian foreign ministry. has accounted for
the deaths of at least 262 Americans since 1983
Encouraged by the absence of an effective U.S.
response, the Iranians not only remain unrepentant
but have made Americans their principal targets.
U.S. intelligence has pinpointed two
hijacker-training centers in Iran: one near
Mehrabad airport outside Tehran, the other near
the holy city of Qom. We've seen secret satellite
photos, which show-commercial airliners parked at
the training camps; they are used by the recruits as
"hands-or.' instruction material in the methods of
hijacking modern airliners.
-The training courses include familiarization with
the instruments, fuel consumption and other
features o` Boeing 727s and 747s. as well as Airbus
300s Some of the planes are on loan from
Mehrabad airport during 'down time' between
international flights.
Pan of the training is in the psychology of
hijacking and hostage treatment. The Iranian
instructors teach a cynical mix of techniques that
alternate between brutality to Americans (to instill
fear in the captive passengers) and occasional small
kindnesses (tc, prevent any desperate resistance b~
tre h> ,ape
Ins Cenira' Intelligence Agency has no clear
idea how many potential hijackers are taking the
deadly training. but a Saudi Arabian intelligence
report, which the CIA considers credible, estimates
that 55 student terrorists studied hijacking in Iran
tr late 1964 alone. They Included Iranians, Iraqis,
Tunisians, Moroccans and Eg~~ptians-and at least
one Saud,. The repor identified the chief instructor
as a Palestinian guerrilla who had participated in
airliner hijackings.
At present, there are about half a dozen other
terrorist training camps in Iran. Several are
reserved for foreigners recruited by the Ayatollah
Khomeini's agents from among Moslem students
and workers throughout the Middle East, Asia,
Western Europe and even the United States.
Students at the camps get three months'
indoctrination in Moslem fundamentalist ideology
as well as it the nuts and bolts of terrorist
operations, including construction and placement of
sophisticated demobtion devices.
The CIA has also received detailed reports of an
estimated 30 groups of female terrorists taking
similar training at segregated camps in Tehran,
Qom, Isfahan and Behechtieh. One alumna
reportedly effused to her fellow terrorists: "Our
Imam Khomeini has authorized us to participate in
the holy war against the atheist enemies of the
Islamic Republic. We are the kamikazes of Islam.
We will each die after killing a hundred
enemies-where in the world is not important
The terrorist= trained in Iran's "boot camps"
share one trait devotion to Khomeini, whose
ston-iing irrag- giE-e, a: Iranians from even wall'
poster and televiwor. set The in-atollah refers to
the United States as the Great Satan' and inspires
fellow fanatics w .:t this weird call to arms: "AB
Moslems must rise up and conquer their fear of
death so that they can conquer the whole world"
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/03/08: CIA-RDP90BO139OR000400580052-6
STAT