The vulnerability of the aviation industry to acts of terrorism and
armed conflict became manifest once again on Thursday when a
Malaysian passenger plane MH17 on a direct flight from Malaysia
to the Netherlands, was brought down in the Ukrainian airspace.
No fewer than 295 persons have been reported dead in a mishap
that struck the soul of the global aviation industry and Malaysia in
particular, which is yet to unravel the mysterious disappearance of
another aircraft, MH237, which disappear in March on its
scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to China.
A litany of plane shot downs
Travelling by air is acknowledged to be the fastest and safest, but
incidents of this nature have cast doubts on such claims. Some
past incidents support the view that skies have become a choice
spot for terrorists
On February 21,1973, a Libyan Boeing 727, flying from Tripoli to
Cairo, strayed into the Israeli control Sinai desert where it was
brought down by the Israeli Air Force which claimed that the
airplane flew over some military facilities. Only five out of the 1132
passengers on board survived the incident.
On September 1, 1983, a South Korean flight 007, with 269
passengers on board, was shot down by Soviet fighter jets on the
Island of Sakhalin. The New York-bound flight was passing
through Alaska before crossing the Pacific Ocean.
On July 3, 1988, Dubai- bound Iranian Airbus 300, was shot
down by two US missile cruiser Vincennes while the plane was
still in the Iranian air space. This caused the death of 290
passengers.
In that same year, a South Korean Boeing 747 plane was brought
down by soldiers of the defunct Soviet Union which alleged that
the plane disobeyed its warnings and strayed into its airspace.
A total of 290 passengers were killed. The defunct Soviet Union
inflicted more midair tragedies on South Korea as part of the Cold
War then.
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Airline Flight 103 was brought
down in Lockerbie, Scotland by Libyan sponsored terrorists. The
airline went under after the attack.
In October 2001, a Siberian plane, with 78 passengers on board,
was shot down by Ukraine which denied any role in the incident at
first, but later admitted that its military downed the airplane during
military training.
There are countless acts of hijacking of airplanes by terrorist and
armed groups around the world. On Sept 11, 2001 a group of Al
Qaeda jihadists seized four airplanes in America to unleash
attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, the White House
and the Pentagon in one of the most horrendous terrorist attacks
using aviation facilities. We had the Christmas day failed attempt
by a radicalized young Nigerian student, Umar Farouk Abdul
Mutallab, to blow up a Delta Airplanes plane in the air.
The United States, Russia, Ukraine and Israel cannot boast of a
clean record in cases of attacks on civilian airplanes.
Consequently the early frantic attempt by the Ukrainian authorities
and a section of the US intelligence community to find a scapegoat
in the Malaysian air disaster is suspect.
The government in Kiev and some hawks in US are keen on
worsening the relations between the United States and Russia over
the widespread discontent in the eastern region of Ukraine where a
predominant Russian population are opposed to the attempt by
Kiev to join the European Union, a move Russia strongly oppose.
The Malaysian government has told the world that there is the
need to carry out an international investigation to ascertain the
cause the disaster. The Dutch government holds the same position
which the US president Barack Obama thinks is the wise step.
The authorities in Kiev were the first to link the disaster to an earth
to surface missile strike by Ukrainian separatists on its eastern
flank which are demanding full autonomy from Ukraine. Russian
President Vladimir Putin has joined in the blame game which will
only complicate to process of investigation.
Both President Obama and the Malaysian Prime Minister have
insisted in securing the site of the crash and ensuring that no
items are removed from the scene to enable investigators
determine whether the aircraft was hit by a missile. The location of
the black box is a major priority for the search since the crash was
said to have come suddenly.
There have been controversies on which of the sides to the
Ukrainian conflict fired the alleged missile that may have struck
the aircraft. The fighting groups on both sides were expected to
maintain a truce to permit the use of diplomacy in a conflict that
threatens to dismember Ukraine.
Attack on airplanes attracts instant global attention as the
magnifying impact of the incident in the media takes the centre
stage. This makes that strategy attractive to terrorists and armed
groups in conflict zones.
In one single incident, more deaths have been recorded far more
than what has been reported since the Hamas militants and Israeli
troops began a full scale military offensive last week.
There is no doubt that Malaysian Airlines has been worse hit in the
past four months. It is yet to overcome the trauma of its MH370
that went missing in March. The global search for the aircraft has
proved abortive. Another massive negative publicity arising from
the recent incident is bad for its business.
A retired Director of DSS who wanted identity protection told
Sunday Vanguard:”With the Boko Haram sect growing in their
acquisition of sophisticated weapons, the security and intelligence
communities , the aviation authorities and the general public must
brace up to high level vigilance.
“We saw what happened in Rwanda in April 1994. Terrorists are
anarchists; the only way to fight them is vigilance and
intelligence.”
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