On September 5, 1972, 5 Arab terrorists hopped the fence to the Olympic Village carrying weapons in athletic bags. However this didn't cause alarm for it was not uncommon for athletes to hop the fence instead of going through the proper entrance. Once inside, the terrorists met up with 3 more, presumably they gained proper entrance to the Olympic village. The Palestinians then entered (stolen keys) the two apartments that were being used by the Israeli team. Initially the wrestling referee, Yossef Gutfreund, threw himself at the door and yelled for the others to leave. A couch, race walker, and some four other athletes managed to escape while two team officers and a delegation head managed to hide. One of the wrestling coaches knocked one of the terrorists and stabbed another before being killed.
Later the Palestinians demanded that Israeli release 200 Arab prisoners, and free passage out of Germany for the release of the hostages. However what followed was that the hostages would be taken by helicopter to the NATO air base, and from there were would be flown back to Cairo. But during the transfer of the hostages from a bus to the helicopter, the Germans realized that there were 8 terrorists instead of the expected 5 and that they didn't have enough marksmen to take all of them down. When the helicopter did land though, sharpshooters attempted to kill the terrorists and a bloody firefight followed.
News was released to the Israeli public that the hostages have been saved, but less than an hour later fighting broke out again. This time one of the helicopters was destroyed by a terrorist grenade and the hostages in the second helicopter were shot by one of the remaining terrorists.
Later at 3am, Jim Mckay who was reporting the whole thing for ABC reported "They're all gone."
Five of the terrorists were killed during the fighting, and another 3 were caputred. On October 29th a Lufthansa jet was hijaked and the terrorists demanded the release of the Munich killers. The Germans finally gave in, however an Israeli assassination group was ordered to follow the people who planned it and the terrorists and assassinate them. Eight of the 11 were assassinated, of the remaining three, 1 died of natural causes, and the other two was assassinated but it hasn't been determined whether or not they were killed by the Israeli terrorists.
Here is the list of the 11 people:
Adwan, Kamal - Chief of sabotage operations for Al Fatah in the disputed territories
Al-Chir, Hussein Abad - PLO contact with KGB in Cyprus
Al-Kubaisi, Dr. Basil Paoud - Responsible for logistics within the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
Boudia, Mohammed - Linked with European PLO
Daoud, Abu - Admitted member of the Black September Organization
Haddad, Dr. Wadi - Chief terrorist linked with Dr. George Habash
Mahshari, Mohmoud - PLO member and coordinator of Munich incident
Nassir, Kamal - Official PLO spokesman and member of the PLO Executive Committee
Salameh, Ali Hassan - Developed and executed the Munich operation
Yussuf, Abu - High ranking PLO official
Zwaiter, Wael - Cousin to Yasser Arafat, organizer of PLO terrorism in Europe
Al-Chir, Hussein Abad - PLO contact with KGB in Cyprus
Al-Kubaisi, Dr. Basil Paoud - Responsible for logistics within the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
Boudia, Mohammed - Linked with European PLO
Daoud, Abu - Admitted member of the Black September Organization
Haddad, Dr. Wadi - Chief terrorist linked with Dr. George Habash
Mahshari, Mohmoud - PLO member and coordinator of Munich incident
Nassir, Kamal - Official PLO spokesman and member of the PLO Executive Committee
Salameh, Ali Hassan - Developed and executed the Munich operation
Yussuf, Abu - High ranking PLO official
Zwaiter, Wael - Cousin to Yasser Arafat, organizer of PLO terrorism in Europe
Yeah...That was a great mood lifter. But that's what happened and hopefully this tragedy will never be repeated.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre (more info)
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