Lufthansa Flight 181
From Halbeeg, the open encyclopedia · Af-Soomaali
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Lufthansa Flight 181 was a passenger flight operated by German airline Lufthansa that was hijacked on 13 October 1977 while en route from Palma de Mallorca (Spain) to Frankfurt. The aircraft was a Boeing 737 named Landshut. It was hijacked by four people linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The hijackers demanded the release of prisoners from the German militant group Rote Armee Fraktion (RAF, also known as Baader-Meinhof), ransom money, and other prisoners held in Turkey. This demand occurred during a period of political crisis in West Germany, known as "Deutscher Herbst" (German Autumn).
Course of the hijacking
After being hijacked, the aircraft landed at several airports to refuel and for negotiations with authorities. These included Rome, Larnaca (Cyprus), Bahrain, Dubai, and Aden (Yemen). In Aden, the aircraft's pilot, Captain Jürgen Schumann, was killed following a dispute with the hijackers. His co-pilot then flew the aircraft to Mogadishu.
Mogadishu operation
On the night of 17–18 October 1977, a unit of GSG 9—the special operations unit of West German federal police—carried out a rescue operation in Mogadishu. The operation was named 'Feuerzauber'. The Somali government at the time allowed the operation to take place on its territory. Three of the four hijackers were killed, and one survived and was captured. The passengers and remaining crew were rescued.
Consequences
The resolution of the incident influenced West German domestic policy and the government's approach to combating militant groups. On the night of the operation itself, three RAF leaders held in Stammheim prison were found dead; the official finding was suicide, though the matter remained disputed. German-Somali diplomatic relations were strengthened at that time.