The 1978 Orly Airport attack was a shoot-out that took place on 20 May 1978 in the

Paris Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly an ...

, France as three terrorists armed with submachine guns opened fire at the

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 ...

boarding gate. The terrorists were also reportedly carrying grenades and plastic explosives in the shoot-out that lasted for 25 minutes. Two people including one police officer were killed before the three terrorists were shot and killed by French police and Israeli security guards. Five people waiting to board a nearby

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

flight to Malaga were wounded. The airport was evacuated for about three hours after the attack. According to Israeli sources the group behind the attack was a unit headed by

Abu Nidal Sabri Khalil al-Banna (May 1937 – 16 August 2002), known by his ''nom de guerre'' Abu Nidal, was the founder of Fatah: The Revolutionary Council, a militant Palestinians, Palestinian splinter group more commonly known as the Abu Nidal ...

which cooperated with the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary soci ...

(PFLP).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orly Airport attack, 1978 May 1978 events in Europe 1978 crimes in France 1978 in Paris Abu Nidal attacks Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacks

Orly Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius". Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the comm ...

El Al accidents and incidents Terrorist incidents in Paris Terrorist incidents in France in 1978