Die in Terrorist Attacks at Rome, Vienna Airports : 117 Hurt in Raid Aimed at Israelis

16 Die in Terrorist Attacks at Rome, Vienna Airports : 117 Hurt in Raid Aimed at Israelis

Travelers lining up at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci Airport to check in for El Al flights and at nearby TWA and Pan American counters hit the floor when four or five terrorists rushed in at 9:10 a.m. and set off hand grenades. The terrorists then unleashed a barrage of submachine-gun fire.

In all, seven or eight terrorists were believed to be involved--four or five at Rome and three at Vienna's Schwechat Airport.

The two terrorists wounded in Rome had to be protected by police from some survivors who wanted to lynch them, authorities said. Two of the Vienna terrorists were caught after a car chase and a running gun battle with police that ended six miles from the airport.

'Israel Will Do Its Duty'

Israeli officials vowed reprisals for the attacks and said the Palestine Liberation Organization may be responsible, although PLO spokesmen in Rome and Tunisia denied any involvement.

"Israel will do its duty," said Deputy Prime Minister David Levy. "This organization will not get away without punishment."

Rome witnesses said the terrorists had masks partially covering their faces and were dressed in blue jeans.

Anna Lisa del Grand, a 22-year-old Italian, told the Associated Press that she was checking in on a TWA flight to New York when the terrorists ran into the Rome airport.

"They were jumping up and down and they were shooting in sort of a semicircle," she said. She fell to the ground and saw a wounded terrorist flashing a victory signal with his fingers as he died, she said.

3 Grenades Exploded

Airport police said the gunmen, who ranged in age from 20 to 25, exploded three hand grenades in the attack. Police recovered four Soviet-made Kalashnikov submachine guns and 11 fragmentation-type hand grenades.

The dead in Rome included two women and an infant who died shortly after reaching San Agostino Hospital at Ostia, near the airport, police said.

In Vienna, the terrorists rushed into the departure lounge beside El Al and began firing wildly. An El Al flight was scheduled to take off about 90 minutes later.

"The terrorists were particularly brutal," airport police director Franz Kaefer said. "They even sprayed bullets into a hairdresser's shop nearby."

Two passengers, a 50-year-old Viennese man and an unidentified person, died in the assault. Police said the three attackers fled in a car they commandeered from an airport employee but headed the wrong way outside the airport.

Judge awards $1 billion to Rome, Vienna terrorist attack victims

Source: http://digitaljournal.com/article/342443

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that a US federal judge has awarded more than $1 billion each to 26 victims of the December 27, 1985 terrorist attacks in Rome and Vienna airports. The award was to the victims, including their estates and family.

US Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola, awarded the damages against Syria after he concluded that the terrorist Abu Nidal organization could not have carried out the attacks without "Syria's direct support."

AP reports that the award includes compensatory, punitive damages, as well as interest. However, the award could only be of symbolic value because it is unlikely that Syria will ever pay the victims.

Victor L. Simpson, the Rome bureau chief for The Associated Press (AP), was one of the victims awarded compensation. He lost his 11-year-old daughter, Natasha, in the attack at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport. Simpson and his son Michael were injured in the attack.

The attack occurred at 08:15 GMT when four gunmen entered the shared ticket counter for Israel's El Al Airlines and Trans World Airlines at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, Rome. They fired assault rifles and threw grenades, killing 16 and wounding 99. Italian Police killed three of the attackers. One, Mohammed Sharam, was wounded and arrested.

Within few minutes of the attack, at Schwechat Airport (Vienna International Airport) in Vienna, three men carried out an identical attack with hand grenades thrown into a crowd on a queue at the check-in for a flight to Tel Aviv. Two people died and 39 were wounded. The terrorists escaped from the airport in a car chased by Austrian police. The police killed one terrorist and captured two.

In both attacks, 19 people, including a child, were killed. About 140 people were wounded. It was reported that the terrorists had also planned to attack Frankfurt airport.

Timeline of airliner bombing attacks