Fathi Shaqaqi - Killing

Killing

Shaqaqi was shot on 26 October 1995 in front of the Diplomat Hotel in Sliema, Malta by 2 unknown gunman, travelling under the false name of Dr Ibrahim Ali Shawesh, had come to Malta four times since 1993. He was on his way to Tripoli to visit Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi who was promising to help finance Shaqaqi’s factions. His assassination produced disarray in Islamic Jihad since no competent successor could replace Shaqaqi.

Two killers carried out the killing. A man on a motorcycle shot Shaqaqi as he was returning to his hotel and shot him in quick succession with a gun equipped with a silencer and a container to hold the used cartridges. Shaqaqi’s killers escaped on the motorcycle. Abandoning the motorcycle, a third individual drove them to the Msida Marina from where they most probably boarded a fast boat which took them out at sea and eventually to a large ship from where the whole operation was directed. The Maltese police were only able to identify the corpse three days later. His funeral in Damascus on 1 November 1995 was attended by some 40,000.

Since Shaqaqi's death, Palestinian Islamic Jihad has been led by fellow co-founder Sheikh Abdullah Ramadan Shallah, a.k.a. Ramadan Abdullah Mohammad Shallah, who then joined the earlier listing of fellow PIJ co-founder Abd Al Aziz Awda as a "Specially Designated Terrorist" under United States law on 27 November 1995. Both Shallah and Awda were subsequently indicted on 53 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, and consequently became two of the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists on 24 February 2006.

Fathi Shaqaqi's brother Khalil Shiqaqi is the director of the Nablus-based Center for Palestinian Research and Studies (CPRS).