Planner of Munich Olympics attack dies in Syria
Daughter says Mohammed Oudeh, mastermind behind 1972 attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes, dies of kidney failure at age of 73
Mohammed Oudeh, the key planner of the 1972 Munich Olympics attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes, has died in Damascus. He was 73.
His daughter, Hana Oudeh, says her father died of kidney failure. She says he was rushed to Damascus' Andalus hospital after falling sick, and died Saturday morning.
Mohammed Oudeh, also known as Abu Daoud, did not participate in the attack on September 5, 1972 himself, but was the leader of "Black September," an offshoot of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah group that carried out the attack.
Hana Oudeh says her father will be buried later Saturday in Damascus' Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.
In March 2006, Abu Daoud told the Associated Press that he does not regret the massacre. "I object to suicide attacks, but then I remind myself that the Palestinians have nothing else to fight with. Our military is armed with teeth, so how can we face such a large army without using unconventional means?
"In Fatah, we were more moderate and willing to compromise, but Israel is not willing to give anything in return. Now Hamas is on the rise. If Israel doesn't give the Palestinians something, someone more extreme than Hamas will rise to power. This is the logic of history."
In 1981 Abu Daoud survived an assassination attempt in Poland, which he said was carried out by a Mossad mole operating in the rival Palestinian organization of Abu Nidal.
