Entebbe Incident

The terminal where the famous Entebbe Airport hostage rescue occurred in 1976 still stands today near the new terminal in Uganda।

The rescue by the Israeli defense forces was a huge embarrassment to dictator Idi Amin, who blamed Kenya by accusing them of colluding with the Israelis and ordered the murder of hundreds of their civilians in Uganda।

The crisis began on June 27 1976 when four Palestinian militants seized an Air France flight, flying from Israel to Paris via Athens, with 250 people on board।

The hijackers - two from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and two from Germany's Baader-Meinhof - diverted the plane to Entebbe, where it arrived on June 28।

The hijackers demanded the release of 53 militants held in jails in Israel and four other countries।

Idi Amin arrived at the airport to give a speech in support of the hijackers and supplied them with extra troops and weapons.

On July 1 the hijackers released a large number of hostages but continued to hold captive the remaining 100 passengers who were Israelis or Jews।

Those who were freed were flown to Paris and London।

The crew were offered the chance to go but chose to stay with the plane।

The remaining hostages were transferred to the airport building with the hijackers backed up by Ugandan soldiers।

The hijackers then set a deadline for 11am for their demands to be met or they would blow up the airliner and its passengers, but their plan was foiled।

Ugandan soldiers and the hijackers were taken completely by surprise when three Hercules transport planes landed after a 2,500-mile trip from Israel।

About 200 commandos ran out and stormed the airport building।

During a 35-minute battle, 20 Ugandan soldiers and all seven hijackers died along with three hostages and the leader of the Israeli assault।

The Israelis destroyed 11 Russian-built MiG fighters, which amounted to a quarter of Uganda's air force।

The surviving hostages were then flown to Israel with a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya, where some of the injured were treated by Israeli doctors and at least two transferred to hospital there.