Iran, Abadan terror attack 20/08/1978
Terrorists Kill 377 by Burning Theater in Iran
Terrorists set fire to a crowded movie theater in the Iranian oil port city of Abadan Saturday night, killing at least 377 people in one of the worst disasters of its kind in history.
Information Minister Dariush Homayoun said the fire appeared to be one of a series violent antigovernment acts committed by “fanatics” and directed against “all signs of modern living and Westernization in Iran.”
IRAN: After the Abadan Fire
Commemorating the death of Caliph Ali (A.D. 600-661), who is revered by Iran’s 34 million Shi’ite Muslims as the only true successor to Muhammad, is always a solemn occasion. But last week’s observances were especially subdued. Tehran was tense and quiet. The Club Discotheque, normally a place of frenzied activity for Iran’s newly rich upper middle class, was shuttered. Hotels and restaurants decreed a four-day prohibition of alcoholic beverages. Television stations broadcast readings from the Koran and Islamic sermons in place of Cannon and Police Story.
The Rise of Low-Tech Terrorism- The Washington Post Print E-mail Never heard of the Cinema Rex fire in Abadan in 1978? It's the second-deadliest terrorist attack in modern history
The movies were an affront to God, encouraging vice and Western-style decadence. So in August 1978, four Shiite revolutionaries locked the doors of the Cinema Rex in the Iranian city of Abadan and set the theater on fire. The firefighters were late, and nearby hydrants did not work. The victims’ shrieks could be heard while firefighters and police stood outside, watching helplessly. At least 377 people — perhaps many more — were burned alive.
The Cinema Rex disaster was under the control of the SAVAK organization
The Cinema Rex disaster in Abadan is one of the most painful disasters in Iran’s history. In this incident, more than 600 people were watching the deer movie were burned alive.The depth of the disaster was so deep that it caused some time to be astonished and several foreign media outlets also put it in the top of their news.
