The suspected mastermind of an attack on a Paris Jewish restaurant in 1982 that left six people dead and 22 injured has been arrested, officials in Amman and Paris confirmed on Wednesday. The man, Zuhair Mohammed Hassan Khalid al-Abbasi, 62, was taken into custody on June 1. French authorities are set to seek his extradition, reports RFI.
Zuhair Mohamad Hassan Khalid al-Abassi, alias "Amjad Atta" was one of three men whom France issued an international arrest warrant earlier this year.
He is suspected of having a commanding role in the attack, that left six people dead and twenty-two people injured.
In 1982, Chez Jo Goldberg, a Jewish deli in Paris, located on the Rue des Rosiers in the heart of the Marais- a vibrant Jewish hub- was attacked by two terrorists wielding grenades and machine guns.
One of the attackers threw a grenade into the restaurant while others fired guns at customers; they then fled on foot.
The assault was believed to have been planned and carried out by members of the Abu Nidal Organization, an international Palestinian terrorist group, and took place when Arafat and the PLO were under Israeli siege in Beirut.
At the time, the attack was considered one of the most lethal anti-Semitic attacks in France since the end of World War II.