HIJACKER'S CLAIMED LINK TO SUNNI GROUP DOUBTED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420006-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: September 11, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420006-2
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ARTICLE APPEAREG
ON PAGE
BOSTON GLOBE
11 September 1986
Hijacker's claimed link
to Sunni group doubted
By William Beecher
Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - One of the hi-
jackers of the Pan American
World Airways airliner in Karachi
last week has informed Pakistani
officials that he belongs to an ob-
scure pro-Syrian Sunni 'Moslem
group based in Lebanon. Ameri-
can sources said yesterday.
But they hastened to add that
Both they and the Pakistanis sus-
pect that the admission is false.
aimed at masking the identity of
the terrorist organization that
supported the hijacking.
"So far he's the only one of the
four in custody who has talked,"
one official said. "We think he's
providing t lie cover story that was
ccorked rout in advarce in case
t hey were captured.
''But the Pakistanis are prac-
ticed in the unt?entle arts of irter-
rogation. and, in time. it wouldn't
be surprising it they have fulsome
accounts from all four of .he hi-
jackers.-The presrunprion (,t TJS and
,)1 her Western ritchigenre ana-
hVsts. oil trials said. is I hat !he hi-
iac k was so will planned and so
lrrutal that it has the earmarks of
,m operation by the Abu Nidal ter-
rorist nrpsanization.
Officials said it a clear account
of who was behind the mission is
ascertained. it ,rill may he -.cry
difficult to carry out retribution.
They speculated that actions
could range from a covert mission
against the headquarters of the
organization to economic arid dip-
'romatic pressures against govern-
Ir cents that allow the group to
xrain and operate on their tern
ory
k
For example. they point out
ghat Abu Nidal has offices both in
lbva and Syria and conducts
training in Libya and in the Syr-
ian-controlled Bekaa Valley of
Lebanon.
After the Abu Nidal organiza-
tion was imolicated in the fatal
shootings at the Rome and Vienna
airports last December, the United
States put pressure on Syrian
President Hafez Assad to close
down the group's operations in
his country. But Assad insisted
he didn't know where Abu Nidal
was and that his office in Damas-
cus was only used for public rela-
l ions. not operational planning."
one official said.
The trouble with bombs
Another said that if Abu Nidal
was fingered in the Pan Am case
and even if the United States
knew the exact address of his of-
fices in the Libyan capital of Trip-
oli. it could not bomb for fear of
killing innocent civilians in the vi
cinity. It is in that connection that
one planner talked -rf the possibil-
ity of a covert raid by a special
American military team aimed at
capturing key operatives and
bringing them to trial.
Sources said Abu Nidal is not
belie-ed to have his own training
facilities in Libya but to use, on an
ad hoc basis. Lihvan terroris:
training sites.
On the other hand. they said.
the Israelis ha%e bombed training
facilities in Bekaa believed to he
used primarily by his organiza-
non.
Israeli sources said they sus-
pect Abu Nidal might have been
behind both the Karachi hijacking
and the shootings at an Istanbul
synagogue. Both were extremely
well planned and almost casually
bloody. In the case of the hijack-
ing. the men had blue security
force uniforms and entered the
airfield using a truck that closely
resembled a security vehicle. And
in Istanbul. the raiders struck a
synagogue on the morning it re-
opened after six weeks of repair.
The Israelis suggest that Abu
Nidal. a renegade former ally of
Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Lib-
eration Organization, might be at-
tempting to assume a greater lead-
ership role over the PLO by dem-
onstrating that he can achieve
dramatic results with force while
Arafat's effort at pursuing the dip-
lomatic track with Jordan has
been woefully ineffectual.
Rumors of death
American analysts sav they
are not even sure that Abu Nidai.
whose real name is Sabri Khalil
al-Banna. is still alive: it is con-
ceivable, they say. that rumors of
his death are accurate and his
'.r -irk is being carried out by a
tiliht circle of associates.
His main base of operations
was in Iraq from the early 1970s
until the early 1980s. when he
was expelled from Baghdad.
sources said. During those years.
he frequently carried out oper-
ations against Syria. Iraq's long-
standing rival.
Shifting his operations from
Baghdad to Damascus. Ire then
was used in part to hack Syria's
efforts to pressure Jordan and ttie
PLO not to participate in the Mid-
east peace process, the ,nurses
said
Starting in inid-198.1. he began
shifting his base to Libya. the
sources said. "There is e% idence of
heavy Libyan financing of his op-
erations." one official declared.
But even though senior offi-
cials conceded there has been
sudden flood o iintelligentc rr-
ports suggesting new Libyan-sup-
ported terrorism in recent
t v have no evidence that Libya
.
or in act any government. was
behind t e Pan Am and Istanbul
atrocities.
"We need a lot more informa-
tion before we can consider doing
Declassified and Approved For Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100420006-2