Rome: Four Palestinian attackers, from Abu Nidal’s group, departed from Syria and funded by Libya, threw several hand grenades and then opened fire with Kalashnikovs on the crowd at the counter of the Israeli airline El Al. The first to react were four plainclothes Israeli special agents: three of the four attackers were killed and the fourth was wounded and captured. It later emerged that the objective was to hijack the Israeli flight and crash it in Tel Aviv. However, the Mossad had received warnings of the possible attack and had been stationing snipers for days, who were the first to respond effectively.
