Egyptian Unit 777, heavily armed player characters
In 1977, the Egyptian military created Task Force 777, a special unit of highly trained soldiers whose mission was to suppress terrorist activity and respond to terrorism in progress.
Their first action occurred the following year when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine assassinated an Egyptian national in Nicosia. The PFLP terrorists then took hostages and were able to escape in a Cyprus Air DC8. When Egyptian forces threatened to shoot the plane down, it was forced to land in Larnaca, Cyprus. The Egyptian government attempted to negotiate with the Cypriot government to take custody of the PFLP hijackers, but Cyprus refused.
So the Egyptians sent in Task Force 777 to Larnaca.
The commandos landed in a C-130 near the hijacked plane. The transport's cargo door dropped and four commandos rode out on an armored jeep toward the hijacked plane while five dozen other armed commandos flooded out of the transport and proceeded down the tarmac on foot, firing warning shots at the hijacked plane as they went.
Unfortunately, Task Force 777 failed to inform Cyprus that they were coming.
The Cypriot National Guard, which had just watched an unidentified military transport land and dozens of armed men pour out firing their weapons, responded appropriately. 15 of the Task Force 777 commandos were killed, including the initial 4 who were killed when multiple rockets struck their jeep.
In 1985, the now renamed Unit 777, got a chance to redeem themselves.
Three members of Abu Nidal hijacked Egypt Air Flight 648 and attempted to redirect it to Libya. An Egyptian special security officer who was on board the plane produced his weapon and opened fire on the terrorists, shooting a hole in the fuselage in the process and causing a rapid depressurization which nearly suffocated everyone on board.
The plane made an emergency landing in Malta - after Malta refused this landing and actually shut off the runway lights so the plane couldn't land.
Again, Unit 777 was dispatched.
This time, however, American negotiators arrived before Unit 777. The negotiators arranged for some medical supplies to be brought to the plane for the injured passengers and set up a timetable for food to be brought for the terrorists and the passengers. American Delta Forces were to dress up as airline representatives and bring in the food, then subdue the hijackers when they got the opportunity.
That was the plan.
An hour before the food exchange was to take place, Unit 777, without consulting either the Americans or the Maltese government, stormed the plane. They attached an explosive to the plane's door, but failed to gain access. A second device was placed on the cargo hatch, it too failed. The two explosions did, however, cause plastic in the plane's walls to catch fire, filling the cabin with caustic smoke.
777 commandos climbed on top of the plane and tried again by placing a third device over the weakest point on the plane's frame - the oxygen exchanger. The resulting explosion ripped through the cabin and killed 20 hostages instantly. Four 777 commandos were also injured in the blast.
However, the resulting hole was large enough for 777 to gain entrance.
So they lobbed in at least three grenades, then jumped in with weapons ready. Once inside, however, 777 found their sight limited by the smoke from the fires lit by the previous explosions and the grenades. They ordered everyone on the ground, then, unable to tell passengers from hijackers, began shooting indiscriminately toward any movement.
Several passengers and one crew member managed to get the plane's door open and tried to flee the carnage inside the plane - only to be gunned down on the tarmac by 777 snipers.
In all, 57 of the 80 hostages were killed in the raid.
Two of the three hijackers were killed. The third abandoned his weapon and jacket and pretended to be an injured passenger. 777 commandos led him, along with the hostages, to waiting medical personnel. He was taken to a nearby hospital with the others and was recognized by one of the passengers just as he was attempting to leave the hospital.
777 was temporarily disbanded, but was reformed in 1991. Today they have blackhawks and mi-8s and train with the SEALs.
