CHRONOLOGIES OF SIGNIFICANT FEDAYEEN AND NON-FEDAYEEN TERRORIST INCIDENTS 1 JANUARY 1968 - 15 OCTOBER 1973

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005764836
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: November 10, 2011
• Case Number: F-2011-02148
• Publication Date: October 24, 1973

-ALL FBI INFORMATION CONTAINED
REIN IS UNCLASSIFIED ?
DATE 01-25-2010 BY 60324 uc baw/sab/rs
C 'RAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
0'
(b)(3)
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
(b)(6)
`-
(b)(7)(c)
APPROVED FOR RELEASED
DATE: 11-01-2011
MEMORANDUM FOR: Members of the Working Group -
Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism
SUBJECT jChr94ologies o _f Significan _eday.e_pn
Non- inciaen-cs
uary 1968 ___15 October_ 1973
Forwarded herewith are unclassified Chronologies of,
Significant Fedayeen and Non-Fedayeen Terrorist 'Incidents
for. the period 1 January 1968 through 15 October 1973.
These update and replace previous chronologies gated
August 1973. ?Extra copies may be obtained by contact
this office on
Attachment: a/s
57NOV 1 73
 Distribution: Ambassador Lewis B. Hoffacker
Special Assistant to the Secretary
Department of. State
Mr. William A. Boleyn
Deputy for Program Execution and Evaluation
-of the Program Coordination Division
Office. of Management and Budget
General Benjamin 0. Davis,. Jr.
Assistant Secretary for Safety and Consumer
Affairs
Department of Transportation
Mr. Robert C. Hill
Assistant Secretary of Defense
International Security Affairs'
Colonel Richard T. Kennedy
National Security Council Staff
Mr. Kevin T. Maroney
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
Department of.Justice
.Mr. Edward S. Miller
Assistant Director Intelligence Division
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Mr. Edward L. Morgan
Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Enforce-
ment, Tariff and Trade Affairs, and Operations
Mr. Herbert K. Reis
Legal Advisor
United States Mission to the United Nations
Mr. Geoff C. Shepard
Associate Director of the Domestic Council
ENCLOSURE
l+_
 CHRONOLOGY OF SIGNIFICANT FEDAYEEN TERRORIST INCIDENTS
July 1968 - 15 October 1973
October 1973
/pd J1 ~ I tl
EMOV-1-RA
 Chronology of Significant Fedayeen Terrorist Incidents
July 1968 - October 1973
Introduction
This chronology includes significant terrorist incidents
related to the fedayeen-Israeli_ conflict. Major operations
which were thwarted are listed also. The chronology does not
include fedayeen guerrilla operations within Israel against
Israeli targets, or actions undertaken by Israeli forces
against fedayeen camps and installations in Lebanon. Indi-
vidual letter and parcel bomb incidents also are excluded.
Over 250 of these devices have been placed in international
mail channels since September 1972, and almost all were origi-
nated by Fatah's Black September Organization (BSO) and sent
to Israeli officials and prominent Jewish leaders worldwide.
A few were sent to Jordanian officials. Parcel bombs of a
design different from that of the BSO devices were sent also
to several Palestinian leaders.
An asterisk in the left margin of the chronology identi-
fies incidents for which BSO is known or believed to-have been
responsible.
 23 July 1968
26 December 1968
18 February 1969
25 February 1969
25 August 1969
28 August 1969
8 September 1969
27 November 1969
10 February 1970
13 February 1970
21 February 1970
21 February 1970
25 April 1970
4 May 1970
El Al airliner hijacked to Algiers. Crew
and passengers released on 31 August after
39 days detention.
Arab terrorists attacked El Al plane at
Athens Airport; killing one passenger.
Four members of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) attacked
El Al plane at Zurich; crew member wounded;
one terrorist killed.
A bomb exploded at British Consulate
Jerusalem. PFLP claims responsibility.
Terrorists bombed Israeli Zim Steamship
Line office in London.
PFLP hijacked TWA plane; Israeli passengers
detained in Damascus.
Fedayeen bombed Israeli embassies at The
Hague and Bonn and the El Al office in
Brussels.
PFLP terrorists bombed El Al office in
Athens; killed one and wounded 13 others.
Terrorists attacked El Al passengers at
Munich killing one and. wounding 11 other
passengers.
Arsonists set fire to Jewish Old People's
home in Munich; seven killed, nine wounded.
PFLP sabotaged Swissair plane en route to
Tel Aviv crashed on take-off killing all
47 passengers, including 15 Israelis.
PFLP bomb exploded in Austrian plane
carrying mail to Tel Aviv; no casualties.
Terrorist bomb exploded in El Al office
in Istanbul. No reported injuries.
Terrorist in Paraguay killed Israeli
diplomat's wife in attempted assassina-
tion of the Israeli Ambassador.
 8' June 1970
10 June 1970
6 September 1970
11 September 1970
2 April 1971
July 1971
24 August 1971
8 September 1971
9 September 1971
15 September 1971
2.4 October 1971
10 November 1971
*28. November 1971
*15 December 1971
Morris Draper, US diplomat kidnapped by
PFLP in Amman, Jordan.
? Major Robert Perry, US Military Officer,
assassinated by PFLP in Amman, Jordan.
PFLP hijacked a Pan Am 747, a TWA 707 and
a Swissair DC-8. The 747 was blown up?in
Cairo, the 707 and DC-8 were blown up in
Jordan.
US Information Service officer kidnapped
by fedayeen in Amman, Jordan.
Fedayeen damaged pipeline carrying crude
oil to Zarka refinery in Jordan. The
pipeline is an extension of Tapline and
is owned by the Arabian-American Oil
Company.
Fedayeen damaged Tapline in Jordan.
Bomb placed by Fatah damaged Jordanian
Alia airliner in Madrid.
Jordanian Alia airliner hijacked to
Libya by Fatah member.
Fedayeen damaged Tapline in Jordan, near
Syrian border.
Tapline damaged; Jordan accused the
Syrians.
Tapline damaged by explosion.
Four explosions occurred in the Intercon-
tinental Hotel in Amman which is managed
by US personnel, and at one time had a
small amount of US backing.
Black September Organization (BSO) members
assassinated Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi
Tal in Cairo..
BSO attempted to assassinate Jordanian
Ambassador Zaid Rifai in London.
 0
?
January 1972
16 January 1972
* 6 February 1972
* 6 February 1972
* 8 February 1972
*22 February 1972
* 8 May 1972
30 May 1972
* 5 August 1972
* 5 September 1972
*19 September 1972
*29 October 1971
Two incidents, one confirmed as sabotage,
damaged facilities of the Kuwait Oil
Company, which is partially US-owned.
A US nurse was killed and several persons
wounded in a terrorist attack in Gaza.
BSO attacked natural gas facilities in
Holland.
BSO murdered 5 Jordanians near Cologne,
Germany.
BSO damaged plant near Hamburg, Germany.
BSO sabotaged oil pipeline near Hamburg.
BSO hijacked Sabena plane to Lod Airport,
Israel. Israeli security forces killed 3
hijackers; passengers freed.
Japanese terrorists from Red Army faction,
collaborating with PFLP, attacked passen-
gers at Lod Airport; 28 killed, 78 wounded.
BSO claimed credit for fire in Trieste oil-
storage facility.
BSO terrorists killed 11 members of Israeli
Olympic team at. Munich.
Israeli Embassy official in London killed
by mailed bomb. BSO launched an intensive
letter-bomb operation and sent parcels
with explosive devices to Israeli diplo-
matic missions and Jewish leaders through-
out the world.
Palestinian students entered West German
Consulate in Algiers and held hostages
for about an hour demanding release
of three Arab terrorists held in Munich.
Lufthansa flight 615, from Beirut to Munich,
was hijacked by BSO terrorists to secure
the release of the three surviving members
of the BSO team that massacred 11 members
of the Israeli Olympic team in Munich on
5 September 1972.
 3 November 1972
23 November 1972
1 December 1972
8 December 1972
A French girl, identified as a member of
the PFLP, was killed in Amman, Jordan,
while handling a bomb. Police reported
she had intended to place the bomb in the
US Embassy in Amman.
A bomb was thrown into the house of an
Arab National Union Official in Amman.
Jordanian authorities arrested three
persons, who confessed to their involve-
ment and admitted that it was a Fatah
operation.
Fifteen shots from a machine gun were
fired at an Egyptian aircraft on take-
off. The crew was not aware of the
incident until the plane arrived in
Cairo.
The chief representative of the Palestine
Liberation Organization and Fatah in Paris
was wounded during an explosion which
wrecked his Paris apartment. He subse-
quently died. Palestinian sources blamed
Zionist groups for the explosion.
*20 December 1972 The US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon was
hit by two rocket projectiles. There
were no casualties.
*26 December 1972 Two BSO members, driving a Mercedes,
were arrested leaving Turkey when their
car was searched and was found to be
carrying explosives, detonators, firing
devices and a plastic bomb. They said
they were taking the explosives to Paris.
*28 December 197.2 The Israeli Embassy in Bangkok was
seized and six Israelis, including the
Israeli Ambassador to Cambodia, were
taken as hostages by four members of BSO.
1 January 1973 A Jordanian Arab Army Patrol captured
a Syrian and a Palestinian who had been
sent into Jordan from Syria by Fatah to
cut the Tapline.
 * 8 January 1973 A bomb explosion destroyed the offices
of the Jewish Agency in Paris, France,
which arranges for the emigration of
Jews to Israel. BSO claimed credit for
the incident.
11 January 1973 Six to eight suspected Arab terrorists
entered a restaurant in Kaiserslautern,
West Germany, and immediately attacked
other foreigners present. During the
fight a tourist whose parents reside in
Tel Aviv was killed and several others
were. injured.
17 January 1973 A small charge of dynamite wrecked a
basement restroom in the American Uni-
versity of Beirut. A preliminary inves-
tigation provided no clue to the identity
or motive of the bomber.
25 January 1973 The Fatah representative in Cyprus was
killed instantly in a hotel in Nicosia
when a time bomb exploded under his bed.
The Palestinian National Liberation
Movement radio in Cairo accused Zionists
of planting the bomb.
*26 January 1973 BSO claimed responsibility for the assassi-
nation of an Israeli secret service agent
who was shot to death on a busy Madrid
street.
27 January 1973 An unidentified man was killed and another
was injured when a bomb carried by the man
who was killed exploded at the entrance
to an apartment building in Beirut.
*27 Janaury 1973 An Italian border patrol arrested three
Arabs for illegally crossing the border
from Austria. They were later identified
as members of a BSO team dispatched to
seize the Jewish immigration center near
Vienna. Three team members were arrested
in Vienna, Austria, on 20 January.
* 9 February 1973 Jordanian authorities arrested 17 BSO
terrorists in Amman on a mission to attack
US Embassy and Jordanian Goverment offices.
 * 1 March 1.973 Eight BSO terrorists seized the Saudi
Arabian Embassy in Khartoum as guests
were departing from a reception. They
held the new US Ambassador to the Sudan
and the departing Deputy Chief of Mission,
the Belgian Charge, a Jordanian Charge,
and the Saudi Arabian Ambassador as hos-
tages. The US Ambassador, the Deputy
Chief of Mission and the Belgian Charge
were assassinated the following day.
* 4 March 1973 The Greek charter ship "Sounion," car-
rying.250 American tourists bound for
Haifa, Israel, sank in Beirut harbor
following an explosion on board. There
were no casualties. An official inves-
tigation revealed that the explosion was
caused by a device placed against the
side of the ship below the water line.
The BSO claimed credit for this incident.
6 March 1973 Plastic explosive charges were found by
police in three abandoned rental cars in
the vicinity of Israeli facilities in
New York City. None of the charges ex-
ploded. The search of the vehicles also
revealed a quantity of paper with the
letterhead of the BSO.
*12 March 1973 An Israeli businessman subsequently
branded by Cairo's fedayeen radio as a
"Zionist intelligence officer" was shot
and killed on the steps of the Nicosia
Palace Hotel in Cyprus. The BSO claimed
responsibility.
1 April 1973 An explosion destroyed several cars in
Beirut but caused no casualties. The
BSO claimed the blast was an attempt by
Jordanian intelligence operatives to
assassinate Ziyad Al Hilu, a BSO offi-
cial?who participated in the assassination
of Jordanian Premier Wasfi Tal in Cairo
in November 1971.
 * 9 April 1973
Basil Raoud Al Kubaisi, an Iraqi law
professor, was shot to death in Paris
by two unidentified men. A statement
issued in Beirut by the PFLP stated that
he was shot while carrying out a mission
in Paris for the PFLP.
A BSO terrorist team bombed the entrance
to the apartment building where the
Israeli Ambassador resides in Nicosia,
Cyprus. A second team attacked an
Israeli plane at Nicosia Airport.
12 April 1973 An Arab carrying a Jordanian passport
was killed when a bomb exploded in his
hotel room in Athens, Greece. Initial
results of a police investigation in-
dicated that the man was carrying the
bomb in his luggage with the intention
of placing it elsewhere.
14 April 1973 Masked raiders destroyed a US-owned
tapline storage tank in Sidon, Lebanon,
badly damaged two others and slightly
damaged a fourth.
14 April 1973 The Saudi Arabian National Guard dis-
covered an explosive device wired to the
tapline near Rafha, Saudi Arabia. The
device was detached from the pipeline
without incident.
16 April 1973 Unknown saboteurs tried to blow up the
tapline to Zahrani, Lebanon but only
dented the pipeline. The flow of oil
was not affected by the minor damage.
*16 April 1973 At least one shot was fired through a
bedroom window of the home of the New
Zealand Charge D'Affaires in Washing-
ton, D. C. Painted on the house
were the words, "Black September."
The Charge speculated that the ter-
rorists thought they were attacking
the residence.of the Jordanian Ambassa-
dor who at one time lived in the house.
 *27 April .1973 An Italian employee of El Al Airlines
was shot and killed in Rome., Italy by
a Lebanese claiming to be a BSO opera-
tive.
,29 April 1973 A stick of dynamite thrown at the r.esi-
dence of the Jordanian Ambassador in
Beirut, Lebanon, explo.ded in a vacant
lot doing negligibl.e.dama.ge and injur-
ing no one.
*30 April 1973 Four Arab guerrillas (believed to be BSO
members) riding in a .car with weapons.,
explosives and a radio tran?smitt:er were
arrested by Lebanese troops as they
approached the US Embassy in Beirut,
Lebanon. Police later reported that
five other armed Palestinians were
rounded up in connection with the abor-
tive attack.
2 May 1973 Rockets were fired at the US Amb.assado.r's
residence in Beirut, Lebanon., but caused
no damage or personal casualties.
* 9 June 1973 The Fritz Werner GMBH Arms Plant in
West Berlin was partially .destroyed by
a BSO unit, according to a BSO communi-
que reported from Cairo by the Agence
France-Presse. The BSO claimed the
plant deals with Israel.
17 June 1973 Two Arabs were seriously injured when
they apparently detonated a bomb in
their car, which was filled with explo-
sives.
28 June 1973 Mohamed Boudia, an Algerian supporter
of,fedayeen terrorist operations, was
killed. in Paris, France, by a bomb in
his automobile.
1 July 1973 Colonel Yosef Alon, Israeli Air Attache
in Washington, D. C.., was.assassinated
outside his home.
 S
?
19 July 1973 A Palestinian guerrilla armed with a
submachine gun and grenades attempted
to attack the El Al offices in Athens,
Greece.
20 July 1973 A Japan Airlines (JAL) flight from Paris,
France, to Anchorage, Alaska, was seized
by four terrorists. It was destroyed
on 24 July in Benghazi, Libya, after hav-
ing been held for three days in Dubai.
21 July 1973 A Moroccan waiter resident in Oslo,
Norway, was murdered by several persons
alleged either to be connected with the
Jewish Defense League or to be Israeli
agents, in the belief that he was in-
volved in a planned BSO operation in
Norway.
* 5 August 1973 Two Arabs, who identified themselves as
BSO members, attacked the crowded transit
lounge of the Athens' International Air-
port in Athens, Greece, with grenades and
gunfire, killing three persons and injur-
ing 55 others.
10 August 1973 Iraqi Airways flight 006A on a flight
from Beirut, Lebanon, to Baghdad, Iraq,
was intercepted by two Israeli fighters
and forced to fly to Haifa, Israel.
16 August 1973 A Middle East Airways Boeing 707 on a
flight from Benghazi, Libya, to Beirut,
Lebanon, was hijacked by a lone Arab and
forced to land at Lod airport in Tel
Aviv, Israel.
25 August 1973 A North Yemeni DC-6 on a flight from
Ta'izz, South Yemen, to Asmara, Ethiopia,
was hijacked by a Yemeni national, who
surrendered to the authorities in Kuwait.
30 August 1973 Two Arabs, believed to be Sa'iga fedayeen,
were arrested at Beirut, Lebanon, airport
after a spot-check revealed they were
carrying concealed weapons.
 * 5 September 1973
A five-man Arab commando group in Ostia,
Italy, was arrested by Italian authori-
ties, who said the group had concealed
two Soviet-built rocket launchers in an
apartment near Fiumicino airport with
the intention of shooting down an Is-
raeli airliner.
.5.-8- September 1973 Five Arab gunmen claiming to be members
of the "Punishment Organization" shot
their way into the Saudi Arabian Embassy
in Paris, France,, and seized 15 of its
staff as hostages. After negotiations,
the terrorists released most of their
prisoners and departed Paris with four
hostages for an unknown destination.
After a stop in Cairo, Egypt, the terror-
ists landed in Kuwait. They demanded
another plane and flew to Saudi Arabia,
but decided not to land and ultimately
returned to Kuwait. On 8 September the
gunmen surrendered to Kuwaiti authorities
and handed over their hostages unharmed.
* 7 September 1973 A bomb, set off by unidentified individu-
als, destroyed the Israeli exhibit at
the West Berlin International Radio and
Television Fair. There were no injuries,
but damages were extensive. A West Ger-
man news agency later received a letter
in which the BSO claimed responsibility
for the blast, but there is no confirma-
tion to this effect.
24 September 1973 Unknown persons tried to blow up the oil
pipeline of the Tapline Company in the
An-Nabitiyah district of Lebanon. The
explosion made a hole in the ground with-
out causing any damage to the pipeline.
Security has been increased on the com-
pany's installations. .
 28-29 September
1973
Three Soviet Jews and an Austrian cus-
toms official were seized at Marchegg,
Austria, by two armed Arab terrorists
on a train carrying emigres to Vienna,
Austria, and subsequently taken to the
Vienna airport where the terrorists de-
manded a plane to fly them to an Arab
country. The Austrian government pro-
vided the terrorists with a plane in
return for the release of the hostages: