Explosives attack at Frankfurt Airport

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The bomb attack at Frankfurt am Main Airport occurred on June 19, 1985 in Frankfurt am Main . The perpetrators had parked a travel bag with several kilograms of explosives in the departure hall of Terminal B and caused it to explode. The explosion killed two Australian children and a man and injured more than 40 people. A large number of different letters of confession followed . The attack has not yet been resolved.

Explosives attack

On June 19, 1985 at 2:42 p.m., several kilograms of explosives exploded on a group of seats in the departure hall of Terminal B. Two Australian children and a man were killed. More than 40 other victims were injured, some seriously , in the explosion . The force of the explosion tore a hole in the terminal floor and blasted 1200 m² of glass from the facade of the terminal building.

classification

At 4:10 p.m. on the same day, the first call came in to the Frankfurter Rundschau switchboard . A man said literally: "Because of the bomb at the airport - more bomb attacks will follow". Then he hung up. Just one day later, the first letter of confession was received in the office of the Reuters news agency in the Lebanese capital Beirut . Many more calls and letters of confession followed, the figures range from 22 to 32. They came from very different groups such as the Tamil Liberation Front or radical environmentalists who called themselves “Peace Conquerors”.

The investigations turned out to be difficult due to the large number of those potentially responsible. In the state security of the state of Hesse was a special commission established that belonged first 111 officers. The commission conducted 1126 witness interviews and followed up 1060 leads and clues.

The federal prosecutor's office suspected Palestinian terrorists from the Abu Nidal organization three years after the crime . The responsible perpetrators, however, could not be determined beyond doubt until today. The masterminds are Abu Nidal and Khaled Ibrahim Mahmood, who had to serve a long prison sentence for the attack on Rome's Fiumicino airport in December 1985. In 2015, the Federal Prosecutor's Office announced that it was still investigating murder and attempted murder, but did not provide any details on current investigations.

Consequences for security at the airport

As a result of the attack, the security precautions at Frankfurt Airport were increased to the "highest control level". Since then, baggage and passengers have been checked much more closely. Unrestricted luggage at the airport is perceived by the federal police as a potential threat, the corresponding areas are cordoned off and examined by explosives experts. In loudspeaker announcements in different languages, passengers are advised to pay attention to their own luggage or suspicious items of luggage.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Oliver Teutsch: The forgotten attack. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . June 15, 2015, accessed March 19, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b Philipp Wellhöfer: 30 years ago: Attack at Frankfurt Airport. (Video on YouTube , 3:07 minutes) In: Hessischer Rundfunk . June 19, 2015, accessed March 19, 2019 .
  3. ↑ "The greatest avalanche of confessors of all time": Psychopaths, radicals and agents confuse the terrorist investigators of the police. In: Der Spiegel . Issue 27/1985, July 1, 1985, pp. 90–91 , accessed on March 19, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b The riddle of the Frankfurt airport. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . June 11, 1985. Retrieved March 19, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Highest level of control. In: Der Spiegel 27/1985. July 1, 1985, pp. 89-91 , accessed March 19, 2019 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 1 '47.4 "  N , 8 ° 35' 0.4"  E