Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

xxxviii • CHRONOLOGY1986 5 April: Bombing of West Berlin LaBelle Discothèque, killingthree and injuring 200 others, leads United States to bomb Libya, thesuspected sponsor of the bombing, on 15 April. 6 September: AbuNidal gunmen attack Istanbul synagogue, kill ing 21 worshipers beforekilling themselves.1987 20 January: Islamic Jihad kidnaps hostage negotiator TerryWaite after media speculation links him to Iran-Contra affair. 29 November:North Korean agents bomb Korean Air Flight 858 en routefrom Abu Dhabi to Bangkok, killing all 115 aboard. 9 December: Palestinianprotest over an Israeli motorist’s accident that killed Palestinianpedestrians in Gaza Strip erupts into rioting, marking beginning of firstintifada uprising.1988 5 April: Iranian-sponsored terrorists seeking release of comradesfrom Kuwaiti jails hijack Kuwait Airways Flight 422, killingtwo hostages and holding rest of crew and passengers captive for twoweeks before abandoning airplane in Algeria. 14 April: Japanese RedArmy members car bomb Naples United Services Organization club,killing five people, to mark second anniversary of U.S. raid on Libya.15 November: Palestine National Council, legislative organ of thePalestine Liberation Organization, declares independent Palestinianstate to exist in West Bank and Gaza Strip and accepts, in principle,Israel’s right to exist within pre-1967 borders contingent on Israelirecognition of Palestinian state. 21 December: Pan Am Flight 103 isdestroyed over Scotland by bomb concealed in radio, killing all 259people aboard as well as 11 villagers of Lockerbie struck by fallingdebris. Evidence eventually points to Libya as most probable statesponsor.1989 14 February: Ayatollah Khomeini issues fatwa of takfir againstBritish author Salman Rushdie, for the writing of Satanic Verses, a bookregarded by many Muslims as a thinly veiled attack on the character ofthe Prophet Muhammad. The verdict of takfir anathematizes Rushdieas an apostate and enemy of Islam and authorizes any true believer tokill him on sight. 31 July: U.S. Marine Lieutenant Colonel William R.Higgins, kidnapped on 17 February 1988 by Hezbollah elements whileserving in Lebanon as a truce observer, is murdered by captors in reprisalfor Israeli capture of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Abdulkarim Uba’idon previous day. 16 November: Salvadoran soldiers murder six Jesuit