BEIRUT: Kozo Okamoto, who carried out a deadly attack on an Israeli airport on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, died in Beirut on Thursday aged 78, the group said.

In a statement, the PFLP mourned “militant comrade Kozo Okamoto... who passed away today” in Beirut.

He was part of a three-man commando from the Japanese Red Army that killed 26 people on May 30, 1972 at Ben Gurion airport in an attack planned by the PFLP.

Those killed in the massacre were eight Israelis, a Canadian, and 17 Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico. The other two Japanese attackers were killed but Okamoto was wounded and captured, and sentenced to life in prison in Israel.

By the time he was released as part of a prisoner exchange in May 1985, he was not dead but he seemed barely alive.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2026