Terrorist sought in fatal hijacking slain by U.S. missile in Pakistan

1/16/2010

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - A U.S. missile strike in Pakistan killed one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, a man suspected in a deadly 1986 plane hijacking and with a $5 million bounty on his head, three Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday.

The intelligence officials said a Jan. 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim.

The FBI's Web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaeda member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group.

Rahim is wanted for his role in the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of Pan American World Airways Flight 73 during a stop in the Pakistani city of Karachi, according to the FBI site.

The hijackers demanded that 1,500 prisoners in Cyprus and Israel be released and that they be flown out of Pakistan.

At one point, the hijackers shot and threw hand grenades at passengers and crew in one part of the plane. Twenty people, including two Americans, died during the hijacking.

Rahim had been tried and convicted by Pakistan, but he and three suspected accomplices were apparently released in January, 2008. The three Pakistani intelligence officials spoke on condition of anonymity. They cited field informants and sources in militant ranks.