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Palestinian party founder George Habash dies |
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Written by News Editor
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Saturday, 26 January 2008 |
Lebanon news, Lebanese radio
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AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — George Habash, a longtime rival of Yasser Arafat who led the PLO's second-largest faction which pioneered airliner hijackings, died Saturday in Jordan. He was 81.
"He had a severe heart attack and he died instantly," said Leila Khaled, a member of the Palestine National Council and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Habash founded. Khaled spoke by telephone from Jordan Hospital in Amman, where she said Habash died at 8:15 p.m. Saturday. The PFLP's spokesman in Damascus, Maher al-Taher, confirmed Habash's death. The former guerrilla leader had been living in Amman since 1992, al-Taher said. Habash and his group gained notoriety for the hijackings in 1970 of four Western airliners over the United States, Europe, the Far East and the Persian Gulf. The aircraft were blown up in the Middle East after passengers and crews disembarked. |
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