15 May Organization

The now defunct 15 May Organization, an Iraqi-based Palestinian terrorist group, was led by Muhammad al-Umari, aka Abu Ibrahim or “the bomb man.” It became known for carrying out several high-profile airplane bombings during the 1980s, often recruiting couriers to plant nitroglycerin or dynamite beneath jetliner passenger cushions.

The 15 May Organization first came together in 1979, splintering from Wadi Haddad's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine–Special Operations Group. It was always a small group, only garnering 50 to 60 members in its heyday. The 15 May Organization, named for the day that the state of Israel came into existence, was never part of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), according to the U.S. State Department. The group was based in Baghdad and operated in the Middle East, Europe, and East Asia before disbanding. Iraq provided the 15 May Organization with logistic and financial support, as well as a safe haven.

The group became infamous for many bombings during the 1980s, beginning with a hotel bombing in London in 1980, attacks on the airline El Al's Rome and Istanbul offices, and attacks on the Israeli embassies in Athens and Vienna during the following year. The 15 May Organization is perhaps best known for its attack on a Pan Am jet flying from Tokyo to Honolulu on August 11, 1982 in which 15 May operatives planted a bomb on board and the resulting blast killed a Japanese teenager and wounded more than a dozen other passengers. In 1988, Greek authorities arrested top 15 May operative Mohammad Rashid [Page 137]for his suspected involvement in the crime. The Greek authorities, which had originally apprehended Rashid on false passport charges, turned down multiple U.S. extradition requests and decided instead to try Rashid in Greece.

During 1982, the very year that they attacked the Pan Am jet, 15 May members made the mistake of recruiting former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) captain Adnan Awad. They ordered Awad to blow up a Jewish-owned Hilton Hotel in Geneva with a bomb sewn into the seams of his carry-on luggage. Instead, he turned himself in to American and Swiss authorities and told them everything he knew about the plot. Two years later, Awad traveled to the United States to testify against Rashid in the Hawaii jet bombing case, and U.S. authorities put him into the witness protection program. A Greek court convicted Rashid in 1992. However, he went free four years later and was finally extradited to the United States in 1998. Once arraigned in the United States, Rashid attempted to dismiss most of the U.S. indictment counts against him, saying he had already been tried in Greece. He lost this appeal in December 2000.

Press accounts have further linked Rashid and 15 May with the 1986 midair bombing of a TWA flight from Rome to Athens. However, the group then disbanded in the mid-1980s, according to the State Department; it dissolved when important members left to join the Special Operations Group of Al Fatah, led by Colonel Abdallah Abd El Labib, often known as Colonel Hawari.