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| The 80's History Project Terrorism The Achille Lauro Hijacking October 9, 1985 The Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, with more than 400 passengers and crew on board, was hijacked by four heavily armed members of the Palestinian terrorist group, PLF (or Palestine Liberation Front.. The terrorists demanded the release of 50 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel. During the siege, the hijackers killed a 69-year old handicapped American tourist, Leon Klinghoffer, and threw his body overboard with his wheelchair. After a two day stand off, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak convinced the terrorists to surrender the ship in return for safe passage to Egypt. However, when the Egyptian plane carrying the hijackers attempted to spirit them away, the plane was forced to land in Sicily by U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighters, and the terrorists are taken into custody by Italian authorities. The hijacking was masterminded by Palestinian militant Abu Abbas, who went into hiding in Gaza for many years, and was finally captured in 2003 by American forces in Iraq. |
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| The Achille Lauro |