Tweet
Imad Mughniyeh, senior Hizbullah leader, dead in Damascus
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- A senior Hezbollah commander implicated in some of the most high-profile international terrorist attacks of the last 25 years has died in an explosion in Syria, Hezbollah TV said Wednesday.
Imad Mughniyeh was suspected by Western intelligence agencies in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, as well as the truck bombing that year of the U.S. Marine barracks there, an attack that killed 241 people and preceded the U.S. military withdrawal from Lebanon, according to a CNN report from 2001.
The FBI listed Mughniyeh as one of its "Most Wanted Terrorists," blaming him for his role in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of TWA 847, a terrorist episode that captivated television viewers in the United States and around the world for more than two weeks.
Hijackers seized the plane as it traveled from Athens, Greece, to Rome, Italy, and forced it to land at the airport in Beirut, starting a 17-day ordeal during which a U.S. Navy diver, Robert Dean Stethem, was shot and killed.
Mughniyeh died Tuesday in an explosion in a residential section of the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to Hezbollah's television station, Al-Manar.
advertisement
The FBI says on its Web site that Mughniyeh was wanted "for his role in planning and participating in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of a commercial airliner which resulted in the assault on various passengers and crew members, and the murder of one United States citizen."
Hezbollah blamed Israel for Mughniyeh's death. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
Imad Mughniyeh was suspected by Western intelligence agencies in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, which killed 63 people, as well as the truck bombing that year of the U.S. Marine barracks there, an attack that killed 241 people and preceded the U.S. military withdrawal from Lebanon, according to a CNN report from 2001.
The FBI listed Mughniyeh as one of its "Most Wanted Terrorists," blaming him for his role in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of TWA 847, a terrorist episode that captivated television viewers in the United States and around the world for more than two weeks.
Hijackers seized the plane as it traveled from Athens, Greece, to Rome, Italy, and forced it to land at the airport in Beirut, starting a 17-day ordeal during which a U.S. Navy diver, Robert Dean Stethem, was shot and killed.
Mughniyeh died Tuesday in an explosion in a residential section of the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to Hezbollah's television station, Al-Manar.
advertisement
The FBI says on its Web site that Mughniyeh was wanted "for his role in planning and participating in the June 14, 1985, hijacking of a commercial airliner which resulted in the assault on various passengers and crew members, and the murder of one United States citizen."
Hezbollah blamed Israel for Mughniyeh's death. Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
Discuss
Comment