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17.05.03, 01:19
1981: Egypt's President Sadat assassinated
President Sadat of Egypt has died after being shot by gunmen who opened fire
as he watched an aerial display at a military parade.
A number of other dignitaries including foreign diplomats were killed or
seriously wounded.
The Egyptian authorities have declared a state of emergency.
President Sadat was attending the eighth anniversary of the Yom Kippur war
with Israel as Field Marshal of the armed forces.
America has lost a great friend, the world has lost a great statesman, and
mankind has lost a champion of peace
US President Ronald Reagan
He had taken the salute, laid a wreath and was viewing an aerial display
from the Egyptian Air force when two grenades exploded.
Gunmen then leapt from a military truck in front of the presidential
reviewing stand and ran towards the spectators, raking officials with
automatic gunfire.
Despite typically large numbers of security personnel for the ceremonial
occasion, eyewitnesses say the attackers were able to keep shooting for well
over a minute.
By the time the President's bodyguards returned fire at least ten people lay
seriously injured or dead inside the stand.
Security forces then shot and killed two of the attackers and overpowered
the rest, as crowds of military and civilian spectators scrambled for cover.
President Sadat was airlifted by helicopter to a military hospital, and is
believed to have died about two hours later.
The precision with which the attack was coordinated has prompted suspicions
that the attackers benefited from high-level intelligence and support.
A group calling itself the Independent Organisation for the Liberation of
Egypt says it carried out the attack but the claim has not been verified.
Reaction to President's Sadat's death has been mixed. President Reagan
condemned Anwar Sadat's death as an act of infamy:
"America has lost a great friend, the world has lost a great statesman, and
mankind has lost a champion of peace," he said.
But many have been celebrating the news. In Libya, Tripoli radio said every
tyrant has an end, as thousands took to the streets of the capital in
jubilation.
Neither has the Palestinian Liberation Organisation condemned the
assassination. Nabil Ramlawi a PLO official said:
"We were expecting this end of President Sadat because we are sure he was
against the interests of his people, the Arab nations and the Palestinian
people."
