KARACHI – The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released newage-progressed images of four suspects in the deadly hijacking of a Pan Amplane in the Pakistani city of Karachi in 1986.
Twenty passengers and crew, including two US citizens, were killed onSeptember 5 that year when the hijackers took control of Frankfurt-boundPan Am flight 73 for some 16 hours during a stopover in the southern portmegacity.
It came to an end when the hijackers opened fire on passengers and crew,causing Pakistani commandos to storm the plane.
The suspects are believed to belong to Abu Nidal, accused of having carriedout attacks in more than 20 countries under the banner of Palestinianliberation.——————————
*The suspects are believed to belong to Abu Nidal, accused of havingcarried out attacks in more than 20 countries. Photo: FBI*——————————
The group is designated a terrorist organisation by the US State Departmentand each of the men – Wadoud Muhammad Hafiz al-Turki, Jamal Saeed AbdulRahim, Muhammad Abdullah Khalil Hussain ar-Rahayyal, and Muhammad Ahmedal-Munawar – is on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List.
According to a statement posted on the FBI website, images of the suspectsobtained in the year 2000 were age-progressed by the FBI Laboratory.
“We’re hoping that with the age-progression photos next to the originalphotos maybe that will jar some memories or maybe someone has seen theseguys walking around,” the statement said, quoting a case officer.
The US State Department is also offering a $5 million reward forinformation leading to their arrest, through its Rewards for JusticeProgramme.
At a trial held in Pakistan 1988, the four men plus a fifth hijacker, ZaidHassan Abd Latif Safarini, admitted to having carried out the attack andwere given death sentences that were later commuted to life imprisonment.
Safarini was released from prison in Pakistan in 2001 but was quicklyarrested by the FBI. In May 2004, a US federal judge in Washingtonsentenced him to 160 years.
The four other hijackers were released by Pakistan after completing theirjail terms in 2008. In 2010, some news reports claimed that Rahim waskilled in a US drone strike in North Waziristan.