ECHO OF OLYMPIC HORROR

ROBIN COTTLE MUNICH’S shopping centre bloodbath took place in the same district where athletes were kidnapped and murdered by terrorists during the 1972 Olympics.

Israeli competitors were snatched from the Olympic Village by Palestinian militants, a few streets from where on Friday a teenage gunman opened fire in a McDonald’s.

It was a chilling flashback to the harrowing scenes almost 44 years ago when Black September terrorists killed two athletes before taking another nine hostage. All of them were shot after days of tense and unsuccessful negotiations in the German city.

They demanded the release of over 200 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails, along with two notorious German terrorists.

The captors rounded up their victims and took them to Munich’s military airport in a bid to catch a flight back to the Middle East. German snipers opened fire and killed three Palestinians before all the hostages and two terrorists died in a gun battle.

Three surviving assassins were arrested but were later released after Black September hijacked a Lufthansa plane.

The Munich massacre led to the Olympics being suspended for the first time in the Games’ history and the fallout continues to resonate to this day.

A number of films have been made about the atrocity and athletes’ relatives have told of the horrific torture their loved ones suffered.