Ahmed Bouchiki

On July 21 1973, Ahmed Bouchiki, an Algerian-born Moroccan citizen working as a waiter in Lillehammer, Norway, was murdered by Israeli agents of the Mossad intelligence agency.

He was shot in front of his Norwegian wife as they returned from a movie. Six Israelis were arrested for the assassination. Bouchiki had been mistakenly identified by the Mossad as Ali Hassan Salameh, one of the leaders of the Black September, a Palestinian terrorist organization, which was responsible for the Munich Massacre.

Two of the Mossad agents involved in assassinating Bouchiki, Dan Ert and Marianne Gladnikoff, rented cars under their own names. They were arrested when they returned the cars to Oslo airport . Under interrogation, they provided the address of a Mossad safe house and four other agents were arrested. One member of the hit squad was using the identity of Canadian Patricia Roxborough, a legal secretary whose passport had been stolen months earlier from the desk of her Montreal office.

The Israeli government paid compensation to the Bouchiki family but refused to admit responsibility for the murder. Five of the Mossad agents served short terms in prison and were pardoned. Mr Harari and his fellow agent and girlfriend were almost alone in escaping. Another of the Mossad agents married her Norwegian lawyer.

External link

• BBC News (Saturday, 1 January, 2005): Bungled Israeli killing revealed