After settling in Tripoli in 1985 , Nidal and the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi allegedly became close , Gaddafi sharing what '' The Sunday Times '' called " Abu Nidal 's dangerous combination of an inferiority complex mixed with the belief that he was a man of destiny . " According to Atef Abu Bakr , Gaddafi asked Nidal to coordinate with the head of Libyan intelligence , Abdullah al-Senussi , an attack on the U.S. in retaliation for the 1986 bombing of Benghazi and Tripoli . Nidal then organized the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi on September 5 , 1986 killing 22 passengers and wounding dozens of others . In August 1987 , Abu Nidal allegedly tried again , this time using an unwitting bomb mule to carry a device on board a flight from Belgrade ( airline unknown ) , but the bomb failed to explode . For PA 103 , Senussi allegedly told Nidal to supply the bomb , and Libyan intelligence would arrange for it to be put on a flight . No evidence has been produced in support of these theories
Pan Am Flight 73
Pan Am Flight 73
Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories