Video: '1972 Lod Airport Massacre Revisited'

(Tuesday, May 30, 1972, 10:20 p.m. Israel Standard Time; during the Lod Airport massacre) — Three gunmen armed with automatic rifles and hand grenades attacked a crowd of 250 to 300 people tonight at Lod Airport (now Ben Gurion International Airport) near Tel Aviv, Israel, killing 26 people and injuring 79 others.

The dead comprised 17 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico, a Canadian citizen, and eight Israelis, including Professor Aharon Katzir, an internationally renowned protein biophysicist.

Two of the attackers were killed, while a third, was captured after being wounded.

The gunmen, members of the Japanese Red Army recruited by the Palestinian group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations (PFLP-EO), arrived at the airport aboard an Air France flight from Rome. Dressed conservatively and carrying slim violin cases, they attracted little attention.

As the three perpetrators — Kozo Okamoto, Tsuyoshi Okudaira, and Yasuyuki Yasuda — entered the waiting area, they opened up their violin cases and extracted Czech vz. 58 assault rifles with the buttstocks removed. They began to fire indiscriminately at airport staff and visitors, which included a group of pilgrims from Puerto Rico and tossed grenades as they changed magazines.

Yasuda was accidentally shot dead by one of the other attackers, and Okudaira moved from the airport building into the landing area, firing at passengers disembarking from an El Al aircraft before being killed by one of his own grenades, either due to an accidental premature explosion or as a suicide.

Okamoto was shot by security, brought to the ground by an El Al employee, and arrested as he attempted to leave the terminal. Whether the attackers were responsible for killing all of the victims has been disputed, as some victims may have been caught in the crossfire of the attackers and airport security.