Israel airline attacker dies in jail in Austria

A man who took part in a 1985 gun attack on Israelis at Vienna Airport that killed three passengers has died in prison after almost four decades behind bars, the jail said Thursday.

Tawfik Ben Ahmed Chaovali, 64, a member of the militant Palestinian Abu Nidal Organization, was Austria’s longest serving prisoner, according to local media, after being jailed for life for the attack.

Together with two others, Chaovali threw grenades and opened fire on passengers waiting to check-in with Israeli airline El Al, killing three and wounding 39 others. Security forces shot dead one of the attackers.

“The detainee died in his cell,” a spokesman for the high-security prison outside Vienna told AFP, without giving details on the circumstances or date of his death.

The 1985 attack was attributed to the Abu Nidal Organization, which broke away from the Fatah group of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Another accomplice was also jailed for life, but he was released after 22 years and left for Jordan.

The Vienna airport attack took place on the same day as another at Rome airport – also attributed to the Abu Nidal group – in which 16 people were killed.

Chaovali, who was born in Kuwait, managed to break out of jail in 1995 but was arrested hours after his escape in the basement of an apartment building.

He made another escape bid in 1996, taking three prison employees hostage, before being overpowered and sentenced to an additional 19 years in prison.