On 13 October 1977, Lufthansa Flight 181, heading from Majorca in Spain to Frankfurt, West Germany was hijacked by four militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP. In response to the hijacking, the West German government dispatched GSG-9, Grenzschutzgruppe 9 or Border Guard Group 9 in English, which was created following the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was a Marxist organization and an offshoot of the better-known Palestinian Liberation Organization. The PFLP was also connected to the Red Army Faction, a far-left militant group which had launched kidnappings and guerilla attacks in West Germany. The hijackers of Flight 181 are led by Zohair Akache, who went by the pseudonym Captain Martyr Mahmoud. Once they take control of the aircraft, the militants demand the release of Red Army Faction members held in West Germany.
The hijacked aircraft first flew to Rome and then Larnaca Airport in Cyprus followed by a refueling stop in Bahrain. The aircraft was next flown to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates on October 15. The aircraft carrying the GSG-9 team has been following along and arrives in Dubai ready to storm Flight 181 and free the hostages. Ultimately this raid is called off and Flight 181 leaves for Aden in South Yemen on October 16. It is here that Captain Jürgen Schumann is shot dead by Akache, leaving Co-Pilot Jürgen Vietor alone to fly the aircraft.
Flight 181 arrives at its final destination of Mogadishu, Somalia on October 17. It is here that the rescue mission took place. Using the cover of darkness, Operation Feuerzauber, Magic Fire in English, started at 1am local time on October 18, 1977. Thirty GSG-9 Operators, led by Ulrich Wegener, stormed the aircraft. All the passengers and crew were rescued alive by GSG-9. Akache and Wabil Harb are killed aboard the aircraft while Hind Alameh later dies of her wounds. Suhaila Sayeh is wounded but survives and later serves time in a German prison.
Unlike the events of 1972, the rescue of the Lufthansa Flight 181 hostages was a success. As a result of the rescue mission, the work of GSG-9 shaped West Germany’s counterterrorism identity for decades.
Thanks to:
Dr. Martin Rupps, author of ‘Showdown Against RAF Terror: Helmut Schmidt’s Crisis Management in the German Autumn
Chris McNab, military historian and author of Storming Flight 181: GSG 9 and the Mogadishu Hijack 1977.
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