
The Abu Nidal Organization was a splintergroup of Fatah that was formed in 1974 by Abu Nidal. Abu Nidal opposed Yasser Arafat's plans for a possible deal with Israel, so he decided to form his own terrorist group that carried out attacks against the Palestine Liberation Organization, Israel, and the United States. It carried out attacks in 20 countries that killed or wounded 900 people, including the 1985 Rome and Vienna airport attacks, the bombing of the Neve Shalom Synagogue, the assassination of Issam Sartawi, and the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73. Abu Nidal killed himself on 16 August 2002 in Iraq rather than be arrested, and the group became defunct.