1978 London bus attack

Terrorist attack in which 2 people died

1978 London bus attack

Location| Europa Hotel, Grosvenor Square, London
Coordinates| 51°30′45″N 0°9′4″W﻿ / ﻿51.51250°N 0.15111°W﻿ / 51.51250; -0.15111
Date| 20 August 1978; 46 years ago (1978-08-20)
13:30 pm

Attack type

| Mass shooting, grenade attacks
Weapons| Submachine guns, hand grenades
Deaths| 1 civilian (+1 attacker)
Injured| 9 civilians
Perpetrator| Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

On 20 August 1978, a staff bus, of El Al airlines in London, England was attacked by Palestinian terrorists.[1] Flight attendant Irit Gidron and one terrorist were killed in the attack, and nine people were wounded.[2][3]

## Attack

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At around 13:30, a minibus with staff of El Al airlines was attacked during a stopover at the Europa Hotel in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair, central London, when two or three men opened fire with submachine guns and hand grenades.[2][3] An El Al flight attendant was killed in the attack, while members of a wedding party were among those wounded by gun shots and a taxi driver was blown from his cab by a grenade.[2][3] A man presumed to be one of the terrorists was found dead after the attack.[2] A second terrorist was captured by the police, while a possible third escaped.[3]

## Aftermath

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The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for the attack.[2][3] The area of the attack was noted as a hotspot of Arab terrorist activity in the country.[4] The flight attendant killed in the attack, Irit Gidron, 29, was buried in Israel next to the victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.[4] The terrorist arrested, Fahad Mihyi, was sentenced to life imprisonment[when?] for the attack.[5]

In 2000, Yulie Cohen Gerstel, one of the flight attendants injured in the attack, contacted Mihyi who was imprisoned at Dartmoor Prison. Mihyi was apologetic for his role in the terrorist attack. Gerstel advocated for his parole as shown in the 2002 documentary My Terrorist.[6] Mihyi was released in 2005.

## References

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1. ^ Rubin, Barry; Rubin, Judith Colp (2015). Chronologies of Modern Terrorism. Routledge. p. 193\. ISBN 9781317474654.
2. ^ a b c d e "1978: Two dead after El Al crew ambushed". BBC News. 20 August 1978.
3. ^ a b c d e "Terrorist Attack on El Al Mini-bus Kills Airline Stewardess, injures 8". JTA. 21 August 1978.
4. ^ a b "Irit Gidron, Terrorist Victim, Buried Alongside Victims of Munich Massacre". JTA. 23 August 1978.
5. ^ "Terrorist Incidents against Jewish Communities and Israeli Citizens Abroad, 1968-2003". International Institute for Counter-Terrorism. 20 December 2003. Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
6. ^ Naomi Pfefferman (9 May 2003). "'Terrorist' Helped Israeli Heal". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 12 November 2018.

* v
* t
* e

Prominent Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1970s

Within Israel|

* Avivim school bus bombing* (May 22, 1970)
* Lod Airport massacre (May 30, 1972)
* Kiryat Shmona massacre* (April 11, 1974)
* Ma'alot massacre* (May 15, 1974)
* Nahariya attack* (June 24–25, 1974)
* Beit She'an attack (November 19, 1974)
* Savoy Hotel attack* (March 6, 1975)
* Kfar Yuval hostage crisis* (June 15, 1975)
* Zion Square refrigerator bombing (July 4, 1975)
* Coastal Road massacre* (March 11, 1978)
* Nahariya massacre* (April 22, 1979)

Gaza Strip|

* Murder of the Aroyo children (January 2, 1971)

Aircraft attacks
and hijackings|

* Swissair Flight 330 (February 21, 1970)
* Olympic Airways Flight 255 hijacking (July 22, 1970)
* Dawson's Field hijackings (September 6–13, 1970)
* Lufthansa Flight 649 (February 22–23, 1972)
* Sabena Flight 571 (May 8, 1972)
* Lufthansa Flight 615 (October 29, 1972)
* Rome airport attacks and hijacking (December 17–18, 1973)
* TWA Flight 841 (September 8, 1974)
* Air France Flight 139 (June 27, 1976)
* Lufthansa Flight 181 (October 13–18, 1977)

Worldwide|

* Munich massacre (September 5–6, 1972)
* Israeli Bangkok embassy hostage crisis (December 28, 1972)
* Assassination of the Israeli attache in Washington (July 1, 1973)
* Schoenau ultimatum (September 28–29, 1973)
* Paris café attack (September 15, 1974)
* Orly Airport attacks (January, 1975)
* OPEC siege (December 21, 1975)
* Yeşilköy airport attack (August 11, 1976)
* Orly Airport attack (May 20, 1978)
* London bus attack (August 20, 1978)

* Attacks launched from Lebanon 1960s 1980s

* v
* t
* e

Mass shootings in the United Kingdom

19th
century|

* Stanfield Hall, Norwich (28 Nov 1848)

20th
century|

* Tottenham, London (23 Jan 1909)
* Houndsditch, London (26 Dec 1910)
* Eastbourne, East Sussex (19 Aug 1912)
* Knowsley Hall, Merseyside (9 Oct 1952)
* Sheffield, South Yorkshire (1 Jan 1960)
* Smethwick, West Midlands (11 Nov 1963)
* Westminster, London (20 Mar 1974)
* Penmaenmawr, Clwyd (24 Sep 1976)
* Westminster, London (20 Aug 1978)
* West Bromwich/Nuneaton, Staffordshire/Warwickshire (26 Oct 1978)
* Westminster, London (17 Apr 1984)
* Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex (7 Aug 1985)
* Hungerford, Berkshire (19 Aug 1987)
* Southall, London (11 Nov 1987)
* Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire (8 Jan 1988)
* Monkseaton, Tyne and Wear (30 Apr 1989)
* Dunblane, Perthshire (13 Mar 1996)

21st
century|

* Aston, Birmingham (2 Jan 2003)
* Cumbria (2 Jun 2010)
* Tyne & Wear/Northumberland (3–10 Jul 2010)
* Horden, County Durham (1 Jan 2012)
* Moss Side, Manchester (12 Aug 2018)
* Plymouth, Devon (12 Aug 2021)
* Wallasey, Merseyside (24 Dec 2022)
* Euston, London (14 Jan 2023)

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