Operation Nimrod by Nigel R Appleby.
The storming of the Iranian Embassy on the 5th of May 1980 by
members of Pagoda Troop, 22 Special Air Service. On the 30th of April 1980, six terrorists seized a group of hostages
at the Iranian Embassy in London; the scene had been set for an SAS
hostage rescue. The codename for the assault on the Embassy to
free the hostages was "Operation Nimrod".
THE BRIEFING The assault teams, Red and Blue, came from B Squadron who had just
taken over counter terrorism duties and were code named Pagoda.
They were commanded by Major Jeremy Phipps. The first members of
the Squadron were in position around the Embassy within hours of the
siege beginning setting up their sniper positions in Hyde Park.
Pagoda Team began preparing for a hostage rescue the moment they
arrived. They had built a replica of the five floor, 50 room
building and established a command post on the sixth floor of Kingston
House overlooking the Embassy.
BACKGROUND After the armed terrorists had burst into the Iranian Embassy at No16
Princes Gate, Southwest London, they took 21 people hostage that
included 15 Iranian Embassy employees, PC Trevor Lock and 5 visitors
including BBC sound recordist, Sim Harris. For six days the siege
went on with negotiations for a peaceful solution being sought by the
British Government; they had decided not to sanction the use of the SAS
until there was proof that the terrorists were killing hostages.
One of the terrorists patience snapped and he shot dead one of the
hostages, Abbas Lavasani, the Embassy's Press Officer.
Just before 1800 Hrs on May the 5th, Lavasanis body was dumped on the
pavement outside the Embassy. Intelligence from bugs planted in
the Embassy building itself proved that the terrorists were planning to
murder more hostages unless their demands were met. The time for
talking was over. At 1858 Hrs, the Home Secretary, William
Whitelaw, authorised the SAS to take action. At 1907 Hrs the
Metropolitan Police formally handed over control of the siege to
Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Rose, Commanding Officer of 22 Special Air
Service Regiment. "Operation Nimrod" was now active.
By 1922 Hrs, Blue Team Assault party were in position in the gardens
behind the buildings as well as in the front rooms of Number 15.
Red Team were in position looking down from the roof of Number 16 and
once secured and ready for the assault gave the signal "Hyde
Park". At exactly 1923 Hrs the attack signal went out to all
assault teams "London Bridge". The eight soldiers from
Red Team dropped off the roof towards the second floor balcony whilst
the Blue Team rushed from the undergrowth towards the French Windows on
the Ground Floor Terrace. The whole operation very nearly went
wrong at this point as one of the assault team NCOs got stuck in his
abseil gear 15ft above the balcony. As other Red Team members
tried desperately to free him amid the tangles of rope, kit and bodies,
a boot went through a window.
GO! GO! GO! With the whole operation in danger of early discovery and possible
failure, the Squadron Commander acted fast and screamed his orders over
the radio net, Go! Go! Go!. Operation Nimrod was on. Red
Team hit the balcony just as the explosives that had been lowered over
the third floor sky-light went off On the Ground Floor Terrace, Blue Team was supposed to have gained
entry by blowing in the ground floor French windows with plastic
explosives; however, the NCO from Red Team was still stuck on his abseil
rope above them and using the explosives could not be risked so they
smashed their way in with sledge hammers.
At the front of the Embassy, the roof top explosion signalled the
arrival of other members from Blue Team on the front balcony of No
16. Four Blue Team members reached the front window and were about
to detonate a clumsy looking charge of plastic explosives against it
when they spotted Sim Harris, the BBC man held hostage. He was
immediately told to get back out of the way as the charge blew in the
window. One SAS member then yanked physically, Sim Harris out of
the room and ordered him to take cover on the balcony of Number 18.
THE RESPONSE The terrorists were caught completely by surprise despite the
assaults false start. All of the other hostages had been divided
up and separated. The men were placed in the Tele room on the
second floor whilst the women were placed in the Cypher room also on the
second floor. When the diversionary charge exploded on the sky-light the terrorists
were scattered between the first and second floors. The terrorist
leader "Awn" was in an office on the front first floor with PC
Trevor Lock. As soon as the assault started, PC Trevor Lock pulled
his own gun that he had hidden concealed since the siege began. He
made an attempt to shoot Awn but could not do so in cold blood.
Awn turned instantly on PC Lock and a bitter struggle developed.
In the next office the window blew in and Blue Team made its
entrance. Running into the building, an SAS member broke into the
fight pulling PC Lock away and shooting Awn dead on the spot.
On the floor above, Red Team had run into difficulties. They
had burst in from the second floor balcony but had found the doors in
the office locked and barricaded. Their stun grenades had also set
the room on fire. On the ground floor, Blue Team had made their
way through the library and were scouring the ground floor and basement
for terrorists. On the first floor, the gunfire had attracted the
attention of the terrorist "Abbas" out of the Ambassadors
office at the rear of the building. He was shot by three SAS
members. For the members of Red Team, the rear office was becoming
an uncomfortable and dangerous place to be in. The doors were
still barricaded and locked despite being riddled with gunfire and the
room was now well ablaze. One of Red Team, Tommy Palmer, lost
patience and left the others. Quickly he moved onto the adjoining
window ledge; he saw one of the terrorists identified as "Shai"
(Said) attempting to set the room on fire. Palmer smashed the
window and tried to shoot him but his MP5 jammed. Meanwhile, the
other terrorists, "Feisel", "Ali" and "Makki"
had rushed into the Telex room and began shooting the hostages lying on
the floor. They killed one and severely wounded two others.
As they were shooting, they were joined by Said, who came running in
from the back office with Palmer in hot pursuit. The rest of Red
Team finally broke through the barricades and upon hearing the gunfire
from the telex room, were right behind Palmer as he kicked in the Telex
Room door and killed Said with a single shot to the head. The rest
of Red Team followed Palmer into the room.
