Date: 20 November 1979

Location: Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka

Type of event: terrorism

Description:

Up to 500 armed gunmen occupied the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, taking hundreds of worshippers hostage. Many of the gunmen were connected to Saudi security forces. Saudi troops stormed the mosque on 4-5 December. Hostage casualties included 26 killed and 109 injured; among Saudi soldiers, 127 were killed and 451 injured. At least 87 of the gunmen were killed and at least 40 injured; of those taken into custody, 67 were later simultaneously executed.

Consequences: 240 killed, 600 injured

References:

• Benjamin, Daniel, and Steven Simon, The Age of Sacred Terror, 2002, Random House (New York, NY), pp. 87-90.
• Daly, John C. K., "Terror in the holy city: analyzing the Al-Qaida attacks in Mecca," 26 Nov. 2003, Jamestown Project, on line [http://www.jamestown.org/print_friendly.php?volume_id=397&issue_id=2898&article_id=].
• MIPT, "Other group attacked religious figures/institutions target (Nov. 20, 1979, Saudi Arabia)," 2001, MIPT, on line [http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=2537].
• World Almanac and Book of Facts 2005, 2004, World Almanac Books (New York, NY), p. 168.

© 2017 by Wm. Robert Johnston.
Last modified 26 November 2017.
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