Gunmen Kill Three Israelis Aboard Yacht : Palestinian Trio Surrender After Shootings in Cyprus

Three heavily armed Palestinians seized an Israeli yacht in a Yom Kippur attack at a Cyprus marina today and killed a woman and two men before surrendering.

Police said an Israeli woman dressed in a nightgown and armed with a knife was shot to death in a fierce fight with the gunmen shortly after they boarded the yacht at the Larnaca marina about 4:30 a.m.

The gunmen dumped the woman’s body on the yacht’s deck, where it lay slumped over a guardrail for almost 10 hours until the assailants surrendered to police.

“The nightgown was torn and that makes us believe that she must have put up quite a fight before she died,” a police spokesman said.

Blindfolded and Shot

The two Israeli men, one of them the woman’s husband, were found dead in the cabin. They had been blindfolded and their hands had been tied behind their backs. Police said they were shot sometime after the woman.

Police identified the victims as Reuven Palzur, 53, his wife, Esther, 50, and Avraham Anvery, 55. They said the bodies would be taken back to Israel for burial.

A government statement said the yacht had been anchored in the Larnaca marina since Sept. 16. Intelligence sources said Cyprus was looking into the reason for the dead Israelis’ visit.

The gunmen had demanded the release of a group of Palestinians intercepted off the Israeli coast last month en route to southern Lebanon. The Israelis claimed the people on board were guerrillas planning sabotage strikes in Israel.

Demanded Transportation

The three assailants, armed with assault rifles, automatic pistols and hand grenades, also demanded safe conduct to Nicosia’s airport and a plane to fly them to an unspecified destination.

The attack came on Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. It marked the 12th anniversary of the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.

Egyptian Ambassador Kamal Mahmoud Rifaat and two PLO officials went aboard the yacht to negotiate about an hour before the surrender. They returned to shore saying the gunmen were insisting on their demands.

Rifaat said negotiations had been delayed because Israeli officials celebrating Yom Kippur were not responding.

The gunmen surrendered at about 2:30 p.m., climbing to the deck of the yacht with their hands above their heads. One of the men flashed a “V” for victory sign.