Abu Nidal

Sabri Khalil al-Banna, known by his nom de guerre Abu Nidal, was born in May nineteen thirty-seven and became a prominent figure in Palestinian militancy. He is best recognized as the founder of Fatah: The Revolutionary Council, more commonly referred to as the Abu Nidal Organization (ANO). This splinter group emerged in October nineteen seventy-four after Abu Nidal's departure from Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction within the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Throughout his career, Abu Nidal was implicated in orchestrating attacks across twenty countries, resulting in the deaths of over three hundred individuals and injuries to more than six hundred others. His organization was notorious for its ruthless tactics, particularly during the height of its operations in the nineteen seventies and eighties. Among the most infamous incidents were the simultaneous shootings at El Al ticket counters during the Rome and Vienna airport attacks on December twenty-seventh, nineteen eighty-five, which claimed the lives of twenty people.

Abu Nidal's activities led to widespread suspicion regarding the infiltration of his organization by Israeli Mossad, and there were allegations that he had connections with the CIA. His life came to a controversial end in August two thousand two, following a shooting in his Baghdad apartment. While Palestinian sources suggested that he was killed on the orders of Saddam Hussein, Iraqi officials maintained that he had taken his own life during an interrogation.