The AIA Building hostage crisis took place at the AIA (American Insurance Associates) Building in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 5 August 1975. The Japanese Red Army took more than 50 hostages at the AIA building, which housed several embassies. The hostages included the United States consul and the Swedish chargé d'affaires. The gunmen won the release of five imprisoned terrorists and flew with them to Libya. Background The Japanese Red Army was a communist terrorist organisation dedicated to eliminating the Japanese government and monarchy and launching a worldwide revolution. The organisation carried out many attacks and assassinations in the 1970s, including the Lod Airport massacre in Tel Aviv three years earlier. Attacks The AIA Building in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur used to house the United States and Swedish embassies. On 4 August 1975, 5 members of the JRA stormed the building and took 53 employees of the embassies hostage. All the hostages were gathered on Level 9 of the AIA Building. The JRA demanded that several of their imprisoned leaders be released, and threatened to massacre all 53 hostages if their demands were not met. The Malaysian Prime Minister at the time was Tun Abdul Razak and his police chief was Mohammed Hanif Omar. The then Home Minister Ghazali Shafie was heavily involved in negotiations despite his being in Jakarta at the time. Eventually, the Japanese government relented and agreed to the release of five JRA leaders. They were sent on a Japanese Airlines DC-8 to Kuala Lumpur. The Deputy Transport Minister Dato' Ramli Omar and secretary-general for the Home Ministry Tan Sri Osman Samsuddin Cassim were exchanged with the terrorists as hostages to guarantee safe conduct. The hostage-takers proceeded on the DC-8 with their freed leaders, as well as Omar and Cassim, to Libya, arriving at Tripoli Airport on 8 August after a stopover in Colombo. There they would be sheltered by dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who at the time supported a variety of terrorist organisations such as the PLO and the IRA. Samsuddin Cassim and Ramli Omar returned to Malaysia unharmed on 10 August. Foreign Hostages Robert C. Stebbins - United States Consul Fredrik Bergenstråhle - Swedish embassy Officer Ulla Odqvist - Secretary of the Embassy of Sweden Gerald Lancaster - US citizen - age 50 Trudy Lancaster - Australian citizen - age 32 Vick Lancaster - Australian citizen - age 11 Rodney Lancaster - Australian citizen