LEBANON (TR) – Kozo Okamoto, a former member of the notorious Japanese Red Army responsible for a deadly mass shooting at an Israeli airport five decades ago, has died at his hideout in Beirut, supporters have revealed. He was 78, reports TV Asahi (July 24).
According to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which had been supporting the fugitive, Okamoto was confirmed dead on the afternoon of the 23rd at the Beirut residence he used as a safe house.
Okamoto was a core militant in the Japanese Red Army, a radical group that orchestrated a series of high-profile, international terror attacks predominantly throughout the 1970s.
In 1972, Okamoto and two compatriots teamed up with the PFLP to carry out a bloody assault on an airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. Opening fire on unsuspecting travelers, the trio left approximately 100 people dead and wounded.
Okamoto was the sole surviving perpetrator of the three attackers. He was captured and convicted in Israel, but was later released in a prisoner exchange. He eventually secured political asylum in Lebanon, where he lived as a fugitive from international authorities for decades.
According to sources, Okamoto’s body was scheduled to be buried locally on Friday afternoon, with a formal funeral to follow the next day.
