1980 Antwerp summer camp attack

On 28 July 1980, a Syria-born Palestinian, identified as Said Al Nasr, used grenades to attack a group of 40 Jewish children waiting with their families for a bus to take them to summer camp. One boy was killed and 20 other people were wounded in the attack.

Attack

The attack took place outside the Agoudath Israel cultural centre. The group of children, aged 10 to 14, originating from Britain, France, the Netherlands, Austria, and Belgium were accompanied by their families as they waited to board a bus to take them to a summer camp in the Ardennes hills of southern Belgium.[1] The explosion killed one boy, identified as 15-year-old Parisian David Kuhan, and wounded 20, aged 13 to 27, eight of whom had to be hospitalized,[1] including a 13-year-old Belgian with critical brain injuries and a pregnant woman.[2]

The attacker was arrested after witnesses chased him down. In addition to the thrown grenades, he was carrying a pistol and "several magazines of ammunition."[2]

The attack was among a number of anti-Jewish attacks worldwide in the early 1980s.[3]

Perpetrator

Main article: Said Al Nasr

Al Nasr is a Syrian-Palestinian, was convicted in Belgium in 1980, for throwing two hand grenades into a group of Jewish children waiting for a bus in Antwerp on July 27, 1980.[4][5] He was carrying a Moroccan passport at the time of his arrest.[2]

The jailed Al Nasr was "traded" for part of the family Houtekins-Kets in 1990, a Belgian-French family kidnapped in Libya—a demand of the Abu Nidal group—during the Silco incident.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 "Jewish youth dies in blast of grenade". The Globe and Mail. 28 July 1980. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Arab Held in Fatal Attack On Young Jews in Belgium". Washington Post. 28 July 1989. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "Jewish Targets: Recent Attacks: Chronology". New York Times. Associated Press. 7 September 1986. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  4. ↑ Sylas, Eluma Ikemefuna (2006). Terrorism: A Global Scourge. p. 232. ISBN 1425905307.
  5. ↑ Mickolus, Edward (1989). International Terrorism in the 1980s: 1980-1983. Iowa State University Press. p. 71.
  6. ↑ "FREED HOSTAGES 'IN BELGIAN HANDS' FAMILY HEADS HOME AFTER PALESTINIAN GUERRILLA LEAVES PRISON NEAR BRUSSELS". Orlando Sentinel. Reuters. 13 January 1991. Retrieved 29 May 2016.

Further reading


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.