Word: truck
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...scene was shocking, but it was an aptly ironic image of the times. A winner of the Nobel Peace Prize shot by soldiers?his own?wielding Soviet AK-47s (market price: $750), who had jumped from a Soviet Zil truck (price: $18,000) that was towing a North Korean antitank gun ($35,000). In the background American-made M60 battle tanks ($2 million each) rumbled on in the parade of Egyptian military might, while six French Mirage jet fighters ($2.5 million) flew overhead in tight formation...
Suddenly, there was the staccato sound of gunfire. Three uniformed men were spraying the stand from the back of the truck; a fourth leaped from the passenger seat and hurled a grenade into the crowd. The grenade landed at the feet of Abu Ghazala but failed to explode. A second grenade hit the face of Major General Abdrab Nabi Hafez, the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, who was also sitting near Sadat, but it too was a dud. The grenade thrower dashed back to the truck. grabbed an automatic weapon from the seat, turned again and began firing...
...supposedly, carried no live ammunition. Thus a wide passage was left open that led straight to Sadat. The only shield afforded the President came when several plainclothesmen threw chairs over Sadat in a hopeless bid to save his life. Once the assassins had turned to flee toward the moving truck, the security guards gave chase, firing pistols and automatic rifles. Abu Ghazala, who had received shrapnel cuts in his face and right arm, sought to restore order amid the bloody chaos. "I told everybody to shut up," he said later, "and I ordered the military police to take charge...
...group had been composed of four men, all from the same area of Upper Egypt: First Lieut. Khaled Ahmed Shawki el-Istambuli, who commanded an artillery battery, and two former lieutenants and a reserve officer. As a legitimate participant in the parade, Khaled had ordered other troopers off their truck and substituted the assassins. According to Defense Minister Abdel Halim Abu Gha-zala, the four had purchased on the black market the grenades and guns they used in the attack. "It was very primitive, but successful," said Abu Ghazala. "At this point we do not believe they are part...
...attack might well have stunned them. More important, the professional nature of the assault suggested the possibility of thorough training and a larger operation. Somehow the assassins evaded the security check prior to the parade. They were able to sneak live ammunition and grenades aboard their open truck. They positioned their vehicle in the column closest to the reviewing stand. Finally, they were able to reach the stand at the precise moment when the eyes of the President, his security detail and everyone else were focused on the jets overhead. Was the split-second timing an eerie coincidence...