Israel will bring the narrowly aborted terrorist attempt to shoot down an El Al plane near the Rome airport yesterday before the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) general assembly currently meeting in Rome, official sources said here today. The sources said the Israeli delegate to the ICAO meeting would raise the matter within a few days. They said the plot to destroy an Israeli airliner with Soviet-made ground-to-air missiles demonstrated clearly who endangers civil aviation and who should be condemned.
Last week, the ICAO condemned Israel by an 87-1 vote for its Aug. 10 interception of a Lebanese airliner. The ICAO, a UN body, is presently considering means to curb international air piracy. The Rome meeting ends Sept. 21.
Details of two Soviet-made SA-7 type missiles cached by Arab terrorists in a house in Ostia on the Italian coast less than 10 miles from the Fiumicino Airport in Rome were released by Italian police today, They were described as 4.3 foot solid fuel missiles equipped with heat sensitive homing devices and an effective range of 10,000 feet. According to Italian security sources, the terrorists planned to shoot down the Israeli airliner at a height of about 300 feet as the plane passed over the Italian coast preparatory to landing at Fiumicino Airport. The terrorists had a second missile in reserve should the first have failed to hit its target, the Italian sources said.
REPORTEDLY ACTED ON ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE TIP
They said the attack, foiled reportedly as the result of a tip-off from Israeli intelligence services, was to have taken place yesterday, the first anniversary of the massacre of II Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich Sept. 5, 1972 by terrorists of the Black September organization.
The five Arabs Italian police arrested yesterday in Ostia and Rome are believed to be members of the Black September. They were identified as Ghassan Ahmed al Hadithi, 26, an Iraqi; Gabriel-Kouri, 20, a Syrian; Amin Elhendi, 28, an Algerian; Al Tayed All al Fergani, 26, a Libyan; and Mahmoud Nabil Mohamad Azmikamy, 22, a Lebanese. Azmikamy was seized in a raid on the house in Ostia where the missiles were found. The others were picked up at a Rome hotel frequented by Arabs. All were taken to Viterbo prison north of Rome after being charged with importing weapons illegally into Italy.
The missiles which can be transported in their firing tubes were described as a type used by infantry to down low-flying planes. The same type has been used by the Viet Cong in Vietnam against American helicopters and they are known to be in the possession of Palestinian terrorists. Italian sources said the target of yesterday’s planned attack was apparently an El Al Tel Aviv-Rome-Tel Aviv flight which would fly low over Ostia either incoming or departing. The sources said the terrorists apparently decided to shoot down the airliner because hijacking has become more difficult in the face of increasing security precautions at European airports.
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