( CNN ) -- Abu Daoud , the man who claimed to be the mastermind behind the massacre that marked the 1972 Munich Olympics , has died , according to the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority . On September 5 of that year , Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes who were taken hostage . Daoud , also known as Mohammed Oudeh , died Friday night , the WAFA news agency reported Saturday . The former Palestinian politician and commander in the Fatah and Palestinian Liberation Organization movements was 73 . Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sent his condolences to Daoud 's family , WAFA reported . `` He wrote in his letter to his family , 'He is missed . He was one of the leading figures of Fatah and spent his life in resistance [ against the occupation ] and sincere work as well as physical sacrifice for his people 's just causes , ' `` the news agency quoted Abbas as saying . In the early hours of the attack in Munich , eight Palestinian terrorists entered the Olympic Village in the German city . They stormed the apartments housing the Israeli athletes and took control . Hours later , the world woke up to the image of a masked man on the balcony of the Olympic Village . From the Olympic Village , the Palestinian terrorists issued ultimatums , demanding the release of 200 Arab inmates from Israeli prisons or they would start killing the athletes in Munich , one every hour . Eventually , all the Israelis , five terrorists and one German police officer were killed in what would be remembered as `` Black September . '' `` The hardest part was the ultimatums , '' Ankie Spitzer , wife of Israeli fencing coach Andre Spitzer , who was killed in the incident , told CNN in a 2005 interview . `` Every time , you die a little bit because you think now it 's going to happen to him . '' The Games were put on hold for a few hours . In the Arab world , `` Black September '' was viewed as a triumph . Weeks later , the three captured Palestinian terrorists were freed by the German government after a Lufthansa plane was hijacked in the Balkans . The men got a heroes ' welcome when they arrived in Libya . Ironically , Daoud was allowed back into the West Bank for several years by Israel , at a time in the 1990s when relations with Palestinians were improving . In 2006 -- around the release of Steven Spielberg 's `` Munich '' -- he gave several interviews in which he indicated he had no regrets about the Munich attacks . `` I regret nothing , '' he told Germany 's Spiegel TV . `` You can only dream that I would apologize . '' Daoud also published an autobiography , giving a first-hand look at the rise of the Palestinian resistance leading up to the attack at Munich . The book is titled `` Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist , '' as well as , `` Palestine -- A History of the Resistance Movement , by the Sole Survivor of Black September . ''
Palestinian Authority news agency reports Abu Daoud dead at 73 . Mahmoud Abbas sends condolences to Daoud 's family . Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics . `` Black September '' was viewed as a triumph in Arab world .