On September 23rd, 1983, the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) bombed Gulf Air Flight 771, flying from Abu Dhabi, UAE to Karachi, Pakistan.  All 105 passengers and crew (almost all of them Muslims) were killed shortly after takeoff when the bomb exploded in the passenger compartment, causing an intense fire onboard.  The crew was able to send out a distress signal and attempt an emergency landing before crashing into the desert. 

Abu Nidal ordered the bombing to encourage the Saudis and Kuwaitis to pay him "protection" money in return for not having any "accidents" on their territory.  Soon after the destruction of Flight 771, they both reportedly paid up.

Abu Nidal was born Sabri Khalil al-Banna in the British Mandate of Palestine, modern Israel.  After his wealthy father died and his Alawite mother (one of 13 wives) was kicked out of the house by the family, his devoutly Muslim older brothers placed him in the al-Umaria madrassa in Jerusalem.  Apparently the Islamic message of peace, love, and tolerance that the madrassa undoubtably taught didn't make an impression on him, because oddly enough, he became a brutal killer.

He became acquainted with the Muslim Brotherhood while studying in college in Cairo, Egypt.  He joined the Ba'ath Party in Jordan, then fled to Saudi Arabia when Jordan's king cracked down on the Ba'athists.  He worked as a laborer for an oil company, and founded the "Palestine Secret Organization".  The Saudis arrested and tortured him, then expelled him.

Nidal learned the proper way to treat infidels during his time in Sudan during  their genocide of 2.7 million Christians in the late 1960's.

He joined, and then was expelled from, the PLO and Fatah.  He created his own rival terrorist outfit, and killed over 1000 Christians and Jews over his career.  And make no mistake, it was a career, a very profitable career, for him.

But it was not all fun and games in the ANO.  Nidal was paranoid, and constantly accused his followers of disloyalty.  They would be buried alive, with only a breathing tube sticking out, jammed into their mouth.  Food would be fed down the tube, until the victim was eventually killed with a pistol shot down the tube.  ANO members were also forced to put their genitals into skillets of boiling hot oil.  One would think this would tend to reduce recruitment levels, but this being Dar al-Islam, where they love death more than we love to drink Coca Cola, they apparently love putting their genitals into skillets of boiling hot oil more than we love to drink, umm, Snapple Raspberry Iced Tea.

And so, ANO committed some of their biggest attacks in the 1980's: the El Al Airlines ticket counter in Rome (killing 16), Pan Am Flight 73 (killing 16), and the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul (killing 22).  Abu Nidal also provided the bomb used to destroy Pam Am 103 over Lockerbie, and kidnapped and executed 3 British and American schoolteachers in Lebanon.

He committed "suicide" in 2002 on orders of fellow Ba'athist Saddam Hussein, with "assistance" from the Iraqi Mukhabarat assassination unit. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Previous Days in the "Religion of Peace™":

Sept 22: Iran-Iraq War
Sept 21: Algerian Guelb El-Kabir massacre
Sept. 20: "Palestinian" corruption
Sept 18: Persecution of Taslima Nasreen
Sept 17: Destruction of Library of Alexandria