On this day, 1972: Olympic hostages killed in gun battle

All nine of the Israeli athletes kidnapped on Tuesday from the Olympic Village in Munich have been killed in a gun battle at a nearby airport. A policeman also died in the shooting at the Furstenfeldbruck military airbase, along with four of the guerrillas from the Palestinian group Black September. Witnesses at the airport said the shooting began when police snipers opened fire on the extremists. A spokesman for the Olympic Games said the kidnappers had blown up a helicopter with the hostages inside and then opened fire on the wreckage with automatic weapons. It is believed that the remaining four militants have been captured by West German police. The guerrillas had previously threatened to kill all the hostages if 200 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel were not released.