Renowned writer and secularist Salman Rushdie's would-be assassin, with alleged links to a Beirut-based jihadist group, accidentally blew himself up along with two floors of the hotel he was staying at on his way to kill Rushdie.
his award-winning writing; the Satanic Verses controversy
Clarissa Luard, Elizabeth West, Marianne Wiggins, Padma Lakshmi (ex-wives); Zafar Rushdie, Milan Rushdie (sons); Anis Ahmed Rushdie (father); Negin Bhatt (mother)
In August 1989, a man accidentally detonated a bomb in a London hotel, killing himself. The bomb had belonged to him, and he had intended to use it to kill Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, a book reviled by some Muslims for its allegedly blasphemous content. A militant organization calling itself "the Organization of the Strugglers of Islam" took responsibility for the failed attack.
"Muslims mourn their first martyr, Gharib, who died while preparing a daring attack against the apostate Salman Rushdie." - statement from the Organization on the attempted assassin's death
Though the explosion caused damage to the hotel, including a fire, there were no other deaths. This event came after earlier in the year, Iran's Ayatollah issued a fatwa calling on Muslims worldwide to execute Rushdie, a proclamation which forced the author into hiding for almost a decade.
