Unit 777
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (March 2008) |
Unit 777 (in Arabic: الوحدة 777 قتال), also known as Task Force 777, is the military Egyptian counter-terrorism unit created in 1978 due to the failure of the Egyptian army commandos action in Larnaca International Airport (19 February 1978) as they engaged in a severe battle with Cypriot army and police troops who attacked the commandos as they were heading to capture the terrorists who assassinated the Egyptian novelist, head of the Afro-Asian authors’ summit in Hilton Nicosia. Unit 777 was developed with support from the United Kingdom's SAS and United States Special Forces. Unit 777 has a noticeable high physical fitness, urban and rural military combat capabilities, and a significant rock-mountains combat tactics. Its members are also occasionally charged with Protective Operations for the President of Egypt visits abroad as well.
Their only notable operation was a hostage rescue operation of EgyptAir Flight 648 Boeing 737-200 in Luqa Airport in 23 November 1985, following the execution of two passengers out of five shot by the hijackers, meanwhile the on board Egyptian sky-marshal managed to kill one of the four hijackers before they executed him. Out of 98 hostages, 57 were killed either because of severe burns or asphyxia due to the ruthless widespread fire sparked-out inside the plane when the hijackers threw four phosphoric hand grenades and opened fire randomly against the hostages who were bound to the seats. One mistake from Luqa airport authorities led to that catastrophic disaster. The airport authorities switched-off the tarmac lights then on again in few seconds while the assault teams were still approaching their locations and before they became ready to storm the plane. This accidental mistake frustrated the hijackers - who were still negotiating with the authorities via the cockpit radio - and immediately suspected the action, opening the plane’s front-left door to discover the operators approach.Unit 777 breached the roof of the aircraft with explosive charges. The Egyptian 777 then used explosives as a decoy on the plane’s bottom cargo exit. The aircraft was destroyed in the resulting fire which resulted in the deaths of many of the hostages following as many of the remaining hostages fled the buring plane they were shot by the waiting snipers as they were thought to be "Terrorists" and then there was a friendly fire incident between Unit 777 and local Maltese forces. Unit 777's international reputation was sullied by that dramatic incident. It is believed that the United States Delta Force, French RAID, and German KSK have some sort of joint training with the Unit 777.
