Hijacking of the “Achille Lauro”: Four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists hijack the Italian cruise ship off the coast of Egypt. Claiming membership in the Palestine Liberation Front, the militants demanded the release of 50 Palestinian militants from Israeli prisons. On October 9th, they surrendered to Egyptian authorities in exchange for their freedom and air passage to an unknown destination. But on October 10th, while the Egyptian jet was carrying the hijackers to safety, US Navy fighter jets intercepted it, forcing it to land at dawn the next morning at a base in Sicily. The plane was surrounded by American and Italian soldiers, and the terrorists were taken into Italian custody. The only victim of the hijacking was an elderly American Jew, Leon Klinghoffer, who was killed and thrown overboard with his wheelchair. Italian courts sentenced four terrorists to prison terms of up to 30 years, but they were released much sooner. The leader of the hijackers, Abu Abbas, was immediately released; he was captured by the Marines in Baghdad in 2003.
