Attack on the Saudi embassy in Khartoum
| Attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum | |
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One of the Black September militants on the balcony of the Saudi embassy during the hostage-taking of diplomatic officials in Khartoum, Sudan
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  The attack site
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| Location | Khartoum, Sudan |
| Date | March 1, 1973 |
| Target | Saudi Embassy |
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Attack type
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hostage-taking |
| Deaths |
2 US diplomats |
| Perpetrators | Eight Palestinian militants. Black September claimed responsibility. |
2 US diplomats
Carried out by the Black September Organization in 1973, the attack on the Saudi embassy in Khartoum was a terrorist attack which took ten diplomats hostage. After President Richard Nixon stated that he refused to negotiate with terrorists, and insisted that "no concessions" would be made, the three Western hostages were killed.
On March 1, 1973, the Saudi embassy in Khartoum was giving a formal reception, and George Curtis Moore, chargé d'affaires at the American embassy, was the guest of honor as he was due to be reassigned from his post. Palestinian gunmen burst into the embassy, and took Moore hostage, as well as fellow American Cleo Allen Noel, a Belgian diplomat, and two others.
Eight masked men from Black September entered the building and fired shots in the air, detaining ten hostages:
The morning after the hostages had been taken, the gunmen demanded the release of numerous Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, as well as the release of members of the Baader-Meinhof Group, and the release of Sirhan Sirhan. However, they revised their demands and insisted that ninety Arab militants being held by the Jordanian government must be freed within 24 hours or the hostages would be killed.
In a news conference on March 2, President Richard Nixon stated that the United States would "not pay blackmail". American negotiators seemed confused as to how to best respond to the hostage-takers' demands, and Nixon seemed to believe that the gunmen would give themselves up in exchange for safe passage as others had done when storming the Israeli embassy in Bangkok a year earlier.
After twelve hours, the gunmen stated that they had killed Noel, Moore and Eid, the three Western diplomats in their custody. They demanded a plane to take them and their hostages to the United States, which was rejected by both the Sudanese and American governments.
The Sudanese government continued to negotiate with the militants, and after three days the gunmen released the remaining hostages and surrendered to Sudanese authorities. In the aftermath it was found that the three deceased diplomats had been taken to the basement and killed.
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Wikipedia