BACKGROUND

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was killed by gunmen Oct. 6, 1981, while attending a military review in Cairo. Five men charged out of a truck taking part in the parade and attacked the reviewing stand with automatic rifles and grenades. Seven other officials and foreign diplomats were also killed. The man who would succeed Sadat as president and as a target of assassins, then-Vice President Hosni Mubarak, stood to his right. Mubarak, his right hand bandaged, appeared on state television that night to announce Sadat had died of his injuries. Five men were executed in 1982 for killing Sadat. The leader of the gang, army Lt. Khaled Islambouli, gave the Muslim profession of faith before facing the firing squad. “I profess that there is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet,” he said just before a black blindfold was placed over his eyes.