A Brief History
On February 19, 1978, Egyptian commandos raided Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus in an attempt to rescue hostages taken in the hijacking of a Cyprus Airways Douglas DC-8. The Egyptians were not authorized by Cyprus to engage the hijackers, and a firefight broke out between Cypriot forces against the Egyptians, resulting in at least 18 Egyptians killed and another 18 wounded, while eight Cypriots were wounded.
Digging Deeper
A pair of terrorists had assassinated two Egyptians at a conference in Cyprus, and then took hostages to the airport and boarded a jetliner. Not allowed to land anywhere else, the jet returned to Cyprus with the hostages and terrorists where negotiations began. The Egyptians did not know the terrorists had agreed to surrender before the assault.
After the casualties and the destruction of an Egyptian cargo plane, the terrorists were arrested and sentenced to life in prison. Egyptian-Cypriot relations were severed for several years.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Biles, Clay. How to Stop a Hijacking. CRC Press, 2023.
Plug, Jackie. Miles To Go Before I Sleep: A Survivor’s Story of Life After a Terrorist Hijacking. Hazelden, 2001.
The featured image in this article, a view of Cyprus taken during ISS Expedition 18, is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that “NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted“. (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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