On 6 October 1981, militants led by Khalid Islambouli opened fire on Sadat with automatic rifles during the 6 October parade in Cairo, killing him.
Sadat was protected by four layers of security and eight bodyguards, and the army parade should have been safe due to ammunition-seizure rules. As Egyptian Air Force Mirage jets flew overhead, distracting the crowd, Egyptian Army soldiers and troop trucks towing artillery paraded by.
One truck contained the assassination squad, led by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli. As it passed the tribune, Islambouli forced the driver at gunpoint to stop. From there, the assassins dismounted and Islambouli approached Sadat with three hand grenades concealed under his helmet.
Sadat stood to receive his salute; Anwar’s nephew Talaat El Sadat later said, “The president thought the killers were part of the show when they approached the stands firing, so he stood saluting them”, whereupon Islambouli threw all his grenades at Sadat, only one of which exploded (but fell short), and additional assassins rose from the truck, indiscriminately firing AK-47 assault rifles and Port Said submachine guns into the stands until they had exhausted their ammunition.
The attack lasted about two minutes. Sadat and ten others were killed outright or suffered fatal wounds
My takeaway: Grenades are terrible weapons for assassinations. Like when has anyone ever successfully assassinated anyone with a grenade? The Black Hand’s bombs all missed or failed to detonate, that one guy who threw a grenade at Bush had it wrapped in a sock so the spoon was never released, these guy’s grenades didn’t work.
Grenades - Not even once.
The assassination was generally greeted with enthusiasm from governments in the Islamic world. Sadat was regarded as a traitor for the Egypt–Israel peace treaty, which was seen as having abandoned the Palestinian people.
At first, Sadat was succeeded by Sufi Abu Taleb as Acting President of Egypt for eight days until 14 October 1981, when Sadat’s Vice President, Hosni Mubarak, became the new Egyptian President for nearly 30 years until his resignation as a result of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011.
Prior to this, Egypt’s membership in the Arab League was suspended (and not reinstated until 1989) following Sadat’s betrayal of Palestinian solidarity to the Americans and Israelis at the Camp David Accords (led by Jimmy Carter).
PLO Leader Yasser Arafat said “Let them sign what they like. False peace will not last.”. In Egypt, various jihadist groups, such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad and al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya, used the Camp David Accords to rally support for their cause.
Previously sympathetic to Sadat’s attempt to integrate them into Egyptian society, Egypt’s Islamists now felt betrayed, and publicly called for the overthrow of the Egyptian president and the replacement of the nation’s system of government with a government based on Islamic theocracy.
A fatwa approving the assassination had been obtained from Omar Abdel-Rahman, a cleric later convicted in the US for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. 👁
The last months of Sadat’s presidency were marked by internal uprising. He dismissed allegations that the rioting was incited by domestic issues, believing that the Soviet Union was recruiting its regional allies in Libya and Syria to incite an uprising that would eventually force him out of power.
Following a failed military coup in June 1981, Sadat ordered a major crackdown that resulted in the arrest of numerous opposition figures, particularly those on the left. This further increased his unpopularity.
Earlier in Sadat’s presidency, Islamists had benefited from the “rectification revolution” and the release from prison of activists jailed under Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former socialist president of Egypt.
Sadat’s Sinai treaty with Israel at Camp David enraged Islamists, particularly the radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad. According to interviews and information gathered by journalist Lawrence Wright, the group was recruiting military officers and accumulating weapons, waiting for the right moment to launch “a complete overthrow of the existing order” in Egypt.
Chief strategist of El-Jihad was Abbud al-Zumar, a colonel in the military intelligence whose plan was to kill the main leaders of the country, capture the headquarters of the army and State Security, the telephone exchange building, and of course the radio and television building, where news of the Islamic revolution would then be broadcast, unleashing—he expected—a popular uprising against secular authority all over the country.
unleashing—he expected—a popular uprising against secular authority all over the country.
These guys always have such high hopes. But it never works out that way. 90% of the work has to be done before anyone declares a revolt.
:nasser-ponder:
Had no idea this emote existed. Beautiful.
