1983 Kuwait bombings
Encyclopedia
The 1983 Kuwait bombings were attacks on six key foreign and Kuwait
i installations on December 12, 1983, two months after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing
. The 90-minute coordinated attack on two embassies, the country's main airport and petro-chemical plant, was more notable for the damage it was intended to cause than what was actually destroyed. What might have been "the worst terrorist episode of the twentieth century in the Middle East," succeeding in killing only six people because of the bombs' faulty rigging.
Overshadowing the destruction or attempted destruction of bombings, as well as the subsequent arrests, trial and convictions of the perpetrators, was a series of kidnappings, hijackings and killings staged over the next several years to pressure Kuwait to release those convicted of the bombings.
The perpetrators of the bombing are thought to have been Radical Shia Islamist members of the Iraqi Islamic Dawa Party
working with the support and assistance of the Islamic Republic of Iran
. The motivation of the bombing is suspect to have been punishment against Kuwait, America and France for their military and financial assistance to Iraq
in the Iran–Iraq War.
Only five people were killed (Two Palestinians, two Kuwaitis, and a Syria
n ) in large part because the driver did not hit the more heavily populated chancellery building, and more importantly because only a quarter of the explosives ignited. "If everything had gone off, this place would have been a parking lot, one "prominent American diplomat" told journalist Robin Wright
.
Five other explosives were attempted within an hour. An hour later, a car parked outside the French Embassy blew up, leaving a massive 30 foot hole in the embassy security wall. None were killed and only five people were wounded.
The target intended to get the most powerful explosion was Kuwait's main oil refinery and water desalinization plant, the Shuaiba Petro-chemical plant. A truck with 200 gas cylinders exploded 150 metres from the No.2 refinery and only a few meters from a highly flammable heap of sulfa-based chemicals. Had that bombing been successful it would have crippled its oil production of one of the world's major oil exporters and shut down most of the water supply of the desert nation.
Other car bombs exploded at the control tower at the Kuwait International Airport
, the Electricity Control Center and the living quarters for American employees of the Raytheon
Corporation, which was installing a missile system in Kuwait. An Egyptian technician was killed in the control tower bombing, but none of the other bombings resulted in fatalities.
The bombing of the American embassy was an early instance of suicide bombing
in the Middle East, along with the Hezbollah's bombings of the American Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon earlier that year.
and Islamic Dawa Party
were reported at the time to be involved in the bombing. Shortly after the blasts, Islamic Jihad called Kuwaiti authorities to take responsibility for the blast. This claim and was taken seriously after the callers boast that there was a "seventh bomb" was verified by the discovery of a car bomb in front of the Immigration Bureau.
More important than Islamic Jihad was Islamic Dawa. It was connected to the bombing when the remains of a human thumb were found and its thumbprint identified as that of Raad Murtin Ajeel, a 25-year-old Iraqi Shia member of Dawa. Ultimately 21 other defendants were put on trial (17 captured in a nationwide manhunt and four tried in absentia). After a six-week trial, six were sentenced to death (three of those were in absentia), seven to life imprisonment, seven to terms between five and fifteen years. (One of those convicted was Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, currently member of Iraq's parliament and member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, and accused of acting as an Iranian agent in Iraq.)
Americans and the French are thought to have been targets in Kuwait because of their assistance to Iraq and lack of help to Iran. America had halted all shipments of arms to Iran, and extended $2 billion in trade credit to Iraq in "Operation Staunch" in 1983,
s, numerous roadblocks, identity checks, and guardsmen under orders to "shoot whoever refused to stop or be searched."
.
"Analysts say, ... there is little doubt Mugniyeh and Badreddin helped plan December 1983 bombings in Kuwait against the U.S. and French embassies there ...."
Both the organization of Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran - which was far larger and stronger than its neighbor Kuwait, and the location of Dawa's headquarters - worked to free their fellow Shia revolutionaries in Kuwait.
In Lebanon, Westerns hostages such as American Frank Regier and Frenchman Christian Joubert, were held by Shia radicals demanding the release of the al-Dawa terrorists as the price of the hostages’ release. On March 27, 1984 following the conviction of the al-Da'wa defendants, hostage-takers threatened to kill their hostages if the Kuwaiti government carried through with the planned execution of the al-Dawa prisoners. A month later American Benjamin Weir was kidnapped by actors demanding the same. Anglican hostage negotiator Terry Waite
appealed to the Emir of Kuwait and tried to get a visa to come to Kuwait. His failure to make progress in freeing the convicted terrorists is thought to be the reason he himself was kidnapped and spent some 5 years as a hostage.
Although those sentenced to death were to be hanged within 30 days, the Emir of Kuwait did not sign their death sentence. The executions were delayed for years, until the men were released.
The Kuwait 17 then played a role in the Iran-Contra scandal: the principals of Iran-Contra offered to sway Kuwait to release the Kuwait 17 as one of several incentives to free American hostages in Lebanon. However, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan
learned of this offer, he allegedly responded "like he had been kicked in the belly."
flight from Kuwait City
to Karachi
Pakistan
was hijacked by four Lebanese
Shi'a hijackers and diverted to Tehran
. The hijackers demand was the release of the Kuwait 17, which was not met. During the course of the standoff women, children and Muslims were released and two American officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Charles Hegna and William Stanford, were shot dead and dumped on the tarmac. The few dozen passengers left on board, particularly Americans were threatened and tortured. "Every five minutes there was a frightening incident. There was no letup at all," British
flight engineer Neil Beeston told the BBC
. Paradoxically the hijackers released a statement claiming "We do not have any enmity toward anyone and we do not intend to deny the freedom of anyone or to frighten anyone..." On the sixth day of the drama, Iranian security forces stormed the plane and released the remaining hostages. Authorities said they would be brought to trial, but the hijackers were released and allowed to leave the country. Some passengers and officials suggested complicity by Iran in the hijacking and that the hostage rescue had been staged. One Kuwaiti and two Pakistani passengers claimed that the hijackers received additional weapons and equipment once the plane had landed, including handcuffs and nylon ropes used to tie passengers to their seats. One American official wondered if the surrender was not preplanned: "You do not invite cleaners aboard an airplane after you have planted explosives, promised to blow up the plane, and read your last will and testament."
The U.S. State Department announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of those involved in the hijacking, but made no military response. Later press reports linked Hezbollah's Imad Mughniyah to the hijackings.
, killing two bodyguards and a passerby. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility and again demanded the terrorists release.
was hijacked en route from Athens
to Rome
. One of the demands of the hijackers, was the release of the 17 Shia prisoners held in Kuwait.
to Kuwait with 111 passengers and crew aboard. Three members of the Kuwaiti Royal Family. Six or seven Lebanon
men, (including Hassan Izzeldine, a veteran of the TWA 847 hijacking ) armed with guns and hand grenades forced the pilot to land in Mashhad
, Iran
and demanded the release of 17 Shiite Muslims guerrillas held in Kuwait. Lasting 16 days and traveling 3,200-miles from Mashhad in northeastern Iran to Larnaca
, Cyprus
, and finally to Algiers
, it is the longest skyjacking to date. Two passengers, Abdullah Khalidi, 25, and Khalid Ayoub Bandar, 20, both Kuwaitis, were shot to death by the hijackers and dumped on the tarmac in Cyprus.
Kuwait did not release the 17 prisoners, and the hijackers were allowed to leave Algiers.
Al-Dawa has insisted that the attacks in Kuwait were perpetrated by agents who had been "hijacked" by Iran. In February 2007, journalists reported that Jamal Jaafar Muhammad, who was elected to the Iraqi parliament in 2005 as part of the SCIRI
/Badr faction of the United Iraqi Alliance
(UIA), was also sentenced to death in Kuwait for planning the al-Dawa bombings.
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
i installations on December 12, 1983, two months after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing
1983 Beirut barracks bombing
The Beirut Barracks Bombing occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen...
. The 90-minute coordinated attack on two embassies, the country's main airport and petro-chemical plant, was more notable for the damage it was intended to cause than what was actually destroyed. What might have been "the worst terrorist episode of the twentieth century in the Middle East," succeeding in killing only six people because of the bombs' faulty rigging.
Overshadowing the destruction or attempted destruction of bombings, as well as the subsequent arrests, trial and convictions of the perpetrators, was a series of kidnappings, hijackings and killings staged over the next several years to pressure Kuwait to release those convicted of the bombings.
The perpetrators of the bombing are thought to have been Radical Shia Islamist members of the Iraqi Islamic Dawa Party
Islamic Dawa Party
The Islamic Dawa Party or Islamic Call Party is a political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of the main parties in the religious-Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which won a plurality of seats in both the provisional January 2005 Iraqi election and the longer-term...
working with the support and assistance of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. The motivation of the bombing is suspect to have been punishment against Kuwait, America and France for their military and financial assistance to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in the Iran–Iraq War.
The bombings
On December 12, 1983, a truck laden with 45 large cylinders of gas connected to plastic explosives broke through the front gates of the American Embassy in Kuwait City and rammed into the embassy's three-story administrative annex, demolishing half the structure. The shock blew out windows and doors in distant homes and shops and did an estimated $400,000 worth of damage to the high-rise Hilton Hotel across the street.Only five people were killed (Two Palestinians, two Kuwaitis, and a Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
n ) in large part because the driver did not hit the more heavily populated chancellery building, and more importantly because only a quarter of the explosives ignited. "If everything had gone off, this place would have been a parking lot, one "prominent American diplomat" told journalist Robin Wright
Robin Wright (author)
Robin B. Wright is an American foreign affairs analyst, and an award-winning journalist and author.A graduate of the University of Michigan, she lives in Washington D.C.-Career:...
.
Five other explosives were attempted within an hour. An hour later, a car parked outside the French Embassy blew up, leaving a massive 30 foot hole in the embassy security wall. None were killed and only five people were wounded.
The target intended to get the most powerful explosion was Kuwait's main oil refinery and water desalinization plant, the Shuaiba Petro-chemical plant. A truck with 200 gas cylinders exploded 150 metres from the No.2 refinery and only a few meters from a highly flammable heap of sulfa-based chemicals. Had that bombing been successful it would have crippled its oil production of one of the world's major oil exporters and shut down most of the water supply of the desert nation.
Other car bombs exploded at the control tower at the Kuwait International Airport
Kuwait International Airport
Kuwait International Airport is located in Farwaniyah, Kuwait, south of Kuwait City. It serves as hub for Jazeera Airways and Kuwait Airways. A portion of the airport complex is designated as Al Mubarak Air Base, which contains the headquarters of the Kuwait Air Force, as well as the Kuwait Air...
, the Electricity Control Center and the living quarters for American employees of the Raytheon
Raytheon
Raytheon Company is a major American defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007...
Corporation, which was installing a missile system in Kuwait. An Egyptian technician was killed in the control tower bombing, but none of the other bombings resulted in fatalities.
The bombing of the American embassy was an early instance of suicide bombing
Suicide attack
A suicide attack is a type of attack in which the attacker expects or intends to die in the process.- Historical :...
in the Middle East, along with the Hezbollah's bombings of the American Embassy and Marine barracks in Lebanon earlier that year.
Responsibility
Islamic Jihad OrganizationIslamic Jihad Organization
The Islamic Jihad Organization – IJO or Organisation du Jihad Islamique in French, but best known as ‘Islamic Jihad’ for short, was a fundamentalist Shia group known for its activities in the 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War...
and Islamic Dawa Party
Islamic Dawa Party
The Islamic Dawa Party or Islamic Call Party is a political party in Iraq. Dawa and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council are two of the main parties in the religious-Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which won a plurality of seats in both the provisional January 2005 Iraqi election and the longer-term...
were reported at the time to be involved in the bombing. Shortly after the blasts, Islamic Jihad called Kuwaiti authorities to take responsibility for the blast. This claim and was taken seriously after the callers boast that there was a "seventh bomb" was verified by the discovery of a car bomb in front of the Immigration Bureau.
More important than Islamic Jihad was Islamic Dawa. It was connected to the bombing when the remains of a human thumb were found and its thumbprint identified as that of Raad Murtin Ajeel, a 25-year-old Iraqi Shia member of Dawa. Ultimately 21 other defendants were put on trial (17 captured in a nationwide manhunt and four tried in absentia). After a six-week trial, six were sentenced to death (three of those were in absentia), seven to life imprisonment, seven to terms between five and fifteen years. (One of those convicted was Jamal Jafaar Mohammed, currently member of Iraq's parliament and member of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition, and accused of acting as an Iranian agent in Iraq.)
Motivation
At least some analysts believe the bombings were the work of Iran in cooperation with radical Shia allies from Iraq and Lebanon. Kuwait had given considerable support to Iraq in the 1980-1988 Iran–Iraq War. Between 1983-4 Kuwait provided $7 billion in financial assistance and was second to Saudi Arabia in aiding Iraq, Massive destruction and loss of life in Kuwait would also have provided an example to the other oil-rich, population-poor, Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf who were also helping Iraq against its larger, non-Arab, anti-monarchist revolutionary Islamic neighbor. In 1985, Persian Gulf states altogether provided Iraq with financial contributions in the range of US$40–50 billion,Americans and the French are thought to have been targets in Kuwait because of their assistance to Iraq and lack of help to Iran. America had halted all shipments of arms to Iran, and extended $2 billion in trade credit to Iraq in "Operation Staunch" in 1983,
Response
The blasts were said to have taken the Kuwaiti government "completely by surprise" and left them and the other small Persian Gulf monarchies "dumbfounded, and terrified," "shaken" to their "core" that such a well-organized terrorist operation could have taken place under their noses. The hitherto relaxed nation was transformed into a "police state" with roundups of foreign workerForeign worker
A foreign worker is a person who works in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen. The term migrant worker as discussed in the migrant worker page is used in a particular UN resolution as a synonym for "foreign worker"...
s, numerous roadblocks, identity checks, and guardsmen under orders to "shoot whoever refused to stop or be searched."
Pressure on Kuwait to free the bombers
Of the "Kuwait 17", 12 were Iraqis in al-Dawa, and three were Lebanese. One of these was Mustafa Youssef Badreddin, Badreddin was sentenced to death, but he was also a cousin and brother-in-law of one of Hezbollah's senior officers, Imad MugniyahImad Mugniyah
Imad Fayez Mughniyah , also transliterated Mughniyya, Mughniyeh, Mogniyah, , alias Hajj Radwan , was a senior member of Lebanon's Hezbollah organisation. He was alternatively described as the head of its security section, a senior intelligence official and as a founder of the organisation...
.
"Analysts say, ... there is little doubt Mugniyeh and Badreddin helped plan December 1983 bombings in Kuwait against the U.S. and French embassies there ...."
Both the organization of Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran - which was far larger and stronger than its neighbor Kuwait, and the location of Dawa's headquarters - worked to free their fellow Shia revolutionaries in Kuwait.
In Lebanon, Westerns hostages such as American Frank Regier and Frenchman Christian Joubert, were held by Shia radicals demanding the release of the al-Dawa terrorists as the price of the hostages’ release. On March 27, 1984 following the conviction of the al-Da'wa defendants, hostage-takers threatened to kill their hostages if the Kuwaiti government carried through with the planned execution of the al-Dawa prisoners. A month later American Benjamin Weir was kidnapped by actors demanding the same. Anglican hostage negotiator Terry Waite
Terry Waite
Terry Waite CBE is an English humanitarian and author.Waite was Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie's Assistant for Anglican Communion Affairs in the 1980s. As an envoy for the Church of England, he travelled to Lebanon to try to secure the release of four hostages including journalist John...
appealed to the Emir of Kuwait and tried to get a visa to come to Kuwait. His failure to make progress in freeing the convicted terrorists is thought to be the reason he himself was kidnapped and spent some 5 years as a hostage.
Although those sentenced to death were to be hanged within 30 days, the Emir of Kuwait did not sign their death sentence. The executions were delayed for years, until the men were released.
Iran
Chief Kuwaiti government spokesman Abdel Aziz Hussein called the bombings "the first concentrated Iranian operation to export the revolution and destabilize the [Persian] Gulf after Iran failed to infiltrate the Iraqi [war] front." Kuwait was threatened with further attacks if the defendants were not released, with Tehran Radio regularly broadcast warnings from Dawa that Kuwait would face "serious consequences" if the "heroes" standing trial were harmed.Hezbollah
Over the next several years Hezbollah perpetrated a string of kidnappings and bombings with the goal of forcing the Kuwaiti government to free the al-Dawa prisoners. Hostage Terry Anderson was told that he and the other hostages kidnapped in Beirut had been abducted "to gain the freedom of their seventeen comrades in Kuwait."The Kuwait 17 then played a role in the Iran-Contra scandal: the principals of Iran-Contra offered to sway Kuwait to release the Kuwait 17 as one of several incentives to free American hostages in Lebanon. However, when U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
learned of this offer, he allegedly responded "like he had been kicked in the belly."
Kuwait Airways Flight 221
On December 3, 1984, a Kuwait AirwaysKuwait Airways
Kuwait Airways is the national airline of Kuwait, with its head office on the grounds of Kuwait International Airport, Al Farwaniyah Governorate. It operates scheduled international services throughout the Middle East, to the Indian subcontinent, Europe, Southeast Asia and North America, from its...
flight from Kuwait City
Kuwait City
-Suburbs:Although the districts below are not usually recognized as suburbs, the following is a list of a few areas surrounding Kuwait city:Al-Salam ""السلام"" -Economy:...
to Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
was hijacked by four Lebanese
Lebanese people
The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
Shi'a hijackers and diverted to Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
. The hijackers demand was the release of the Kuwait 17, which was not met. During the course of the standoff women, children and Muslims were released and two American officials from the U.S. Agency for International Development, Charles Hegna and William Stanford, were shot dead and dumped on the tarmac. The few dozen passengers left on board, particularly Americans were threatened and tortured. "Every five minutes there was a frightening incident. There was no letup at all," British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
flight engineer Neil Beeston told the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. Paradoxically the hijackers released a statement claiming "We do not have any enmity toward anyone and we do not intend to deny the freedom of anyone or to frighten anyone..." On the sixth day of the drama, Iranian security forces stormed the plane and released the remaining hostages. Authorities said they would be brought to trial, but the hijackers were released and allowed to leave the country. Some passengers and officials suggested complicity by Iran in the hijacking and that the hostage rescue had been staged. One Kuwaiti and two Pakistani passengers claimed that the hijackers received additional weapons and equipment once the plane had landed, including handcuffs and nylon ropes used to tie passengers to their seats. One American official wondered if the surrender was not preplanned: "You do not invite cleaners aboard an airplane after you have planted explosives, promised to blow up the plane, and read your last will and testament."
The U.S. State Department announced a $250,000 reward for information leading to the arrests of those involved in the hijacking, but made no military response. Later press reports linked Hezbollah's Imad Mughniyah to the hijackings.
Attempt on the life of the emir
By May 1985, Islamic Jihad had accumulated six hostages in Lebanon - four Americans and two French - and on May 16 it released photos of them promising a "horrible disaster" if the jailed terrorists in Kuwait were not released. On May 25 a suicide car bomber attacked the motorcade of Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh JaberJaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Jaber III al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, GCB , GCMG of the al-Sabah dynasty, was the Emir and thirteenth Sheikh of Kuwait, serving from December 31, 1977 until his death on January 15, 2006...
, killing two bodyguards and a passerby. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility and again demanded the terrorists release.
TWA Flight 847
On June 14, 1985, TWA Flight 847TWA Flight 847
TWA Flight 847 was an international Trans World Airlines flight which was hijacked by Lebanese Shia extremists, later identified as members of Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, on Friday morning, June 14, 1985, after originally taking off from Cairo. The flight was en route from Athens to Rome and then...
was hijacked en route from Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. One of the demands of the hijackers, was the release of the 17 Shia prisoners held in Kuwait.
Kuwait Airways Flight 422
On April 5, 1988, Kuwait Airways Flight 422 was hijacked from BangkokBangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
to Kuwait with 111 passengers and crew aboard. Three members of the Kuwaiti Royal Family. Six or seven Lebanon
Lebanese people
The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
men, (including Hassan Izzeldine, a veteran of the TWA 847 hijacking ) armed with guns and hand grenades forced the pilot to land in Mashhad
Mashhad
Mashhad , is the second largest city in Iran and one of the holiest cities in the Shia Muslim world. It is also the only major Iranian city with an Arabic name. It is located east of Tehran, at the center of the Razavi Khorasan Province close to the borders of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Its...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
and demanded the release of 17 Shiite Muslims guerrillas held in Kuwait. Lasting 16 days and traveling 3,200-miles from Mashhad in northeastern Iran to Larnaca
Larnaca
Larnaca, is the third largest city on the southern coast of Cyprus after Nicosia and Limassol. It has a population of 72,000 and is the island's second largest commercial port and an important tourist resort...
, Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
, and finally to Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, it is the longest skyjacking to date. Two passengers, Abdullah Khalidi, 25, and Khalid Ayoub Bandar, 20, both Kuwaitis, were shot to death by the hijackers and dumped on the tarmac in Cyprus.
Kuwait did not release the 17 prisoners, and the hijackers were allowed to leave Algiers.
Aftermath
Eventually the 17 Kuwaitis gained freedom, reportedly during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait when 1,300 prisoners escaped from Kuwait's Saidia central prison. The 15 al-Da'wa prisoners were taken into custody and "released to Iran" by Iraqi officials.Al-Dawa has insisted that the attacks in Kuwait were perpetrated by agents who had been "hijacked" by Iran. In February 2007, journalists reported that Jamal Jaafar Muhammad, who was elected to the Iraqi parliament in 2005 as part of the SCIRI
Sciri
Sciri may refer to:*Scirii, people*SCIRI, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq...
/Badr faction of the United Iraqi Alliance
United Iraqi Alliance
The National Iraqi Alliance , also known as the Watani List, is an Iraqi electoral coalition that contested the Iraqi legislative election, 2010. The Alliance is mainly composed of Shi'a Islamist parties...
(UIA), was also sentenced to death in Kuwait for planning the al-Dawa bombings.