On 10 February 1970, a bus carrying passengers to an

El Al El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, he, אל על נתיבי אויר לישראל בע״מ), trading as El Al (Hebrew: , "Upwards", "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELAL; ar, إل-عال), is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural ...

airplane at the Munich-Riem Airport,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

was attacked by

terrorists Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

. One person was killed and 23 were wounded in the attack.

Attack

An El Al

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

jet was preparing to take off for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

when three terrorists opened fire with

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

s and

hand grenade A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade genera ...

s on a bus carrying passengers to the plane. The attack killed one person and wounded 23 others. The pilot of the plane was slightly wounded when he wrestled one grenade-wielding terrorist to the ground while the other terrorists were shooting. After a brief gunfight with police the terrorists were arrested. As the actor

Assi Dayan Assaf "Assi" Dayan ( he, אסף "אסי" דיין; 23 November 1945 – 1 May 2014) was an Israeli film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. Life Dayan was the youngest son of Israeli general and defense minister Moshe Dayan and peace a ...

, a son of the Israeli Defence Minister was among the passengers some suggested him to have been the target of the attack, while others disregarded this by noting that the attack was indiscriminate and random as Dayan himself was unhurt. Another passenger was actress

Hanna Maron Hanna Maron ( he, חנה מרון; 22 November 1923 – 30 May 2014) was a German-born Israeli actress, comedian and theater personality. She held the world record for the longest career in theater. Life and career Hanna Meierzak was born i ...

who was critically wounded and had to have her leg amputated.

Aftermath

The

Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP; ar, الجبهة الديموقراطية لتحرير فلسطين, ''al-Jabha al-Dīmūqrāṭiyya li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn'') is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organiz ...

(PDFLP), as well as the "Action Organization for the Liberation of Palestine" in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

claimed responsibility for the attack. The three terrorists arrested for the attack were identified as Mohammed Hadidi and Mohammed Hanasi from Jordan, and Abdul Rachman from Egypt. The terrorists were released and deported later the same year in response to the

Dawson's Field hijackings In September 1970, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked four airliners bound for New York City and one for London. Three aircraft were forced to land at Dawson's Field, a remote desert airstrip near Zarqa, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munich bus attack, 1970 1970 murders in Germany 1970 bus attack 1970 mass shootings in Europe Attacks on buses by Palestinian militant groups Dawson's Field hijackings Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacks El Al accidents and incidents 1970 crimes February 1970 events February 1970 events in Europe Mass shootings in Germany 1970 bus attack Palestinian terrorist incidents in Germany Terrorist incidents in Bavaria Terrorist incidents in Germany in 1970 Terrorist incidents on buses in Europe

Attack

Aftermath

See also

References