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