Forty years ago today, on December 27, 1985 (November 16, 1985 in the lunar calendar), Palestinian terrorists committed massacres in Rome and Vienna. Police tag the terrorist killed in the attack on Rome airport December 27, 1985. Palestinian terrorists launched simultaneous attacks on Israel Airlines checkouts in Rome and Vienna, throwing grenades and firing semi-automatic machine guns at holiday travelers. Fourteen people were killed on the spot, including four Americans; more than 110 people were injured. After the atrocities, the two air terminal airports were left with bloody bodies all over the place. Four terrorists were killed in a gunfight with police and plainclothes Israeli security personnel, and three others were injured and arrested. The PLO denied responsibility for the attack, so doubts and speculation immediately focused on a group of mutinous Palestinians led by Abu Nidal. Abu Nidal split from Yasser Arafat's main force, Fatah of the PLO, in 1974. According to information obtained by Italy, one of the surviving terrorists in the attack on Rome was a 19-year-old Palestinian born in a refugee camp outside Beirut. The surviving Palestinian terrorist admitted to belonging to Abu Nidal. A note was found in his pocket stating that the attack was in violent retaliation for the Israeli bombing of the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization near Tunis in October. The Reagan administration accused Libya of aiding terrorists before the violence occurred and wanted to put international pressure on Libya to stop indoctrinating terrorism.