Islamist Militants Assassinate Anwar Sadat
Gunmen disguised as soldiers kill the president during a military parade, and Hosni Mubarak takes power
Quick facts
- Assassinated
- 6 October 1981
- Lead attacker
- Khaled el-Islambouli
- Total killed
- 11, including Sadat
- Successor
- Hosni Mubarak, sworn in 14 October 1981
What happened
On 6 October 1981, Islamist extremists assassinated President Anwar Sadat as he reviewed troops during a parade marking the anniversary of the 1973 war with Israel. The attackers, led by army lieutenant Khaled el-Islambouli and connected to the militant group Takfir Wal-Hijra, wore army uniforms, stopped in front of the reviewing stand, and opened fire with rifles and grenades; Sadat was shot four times and died two hours later, along with ten other people killed in the attack. Sadat's peace agreement with Israel had made him a target across the Middle East, and his decision to let the exiled Shah of Iran die in Egypt rather than face trial had angered others as well. Vice President Hosni Mubarak, who was wounded in the attack, was sworn in as president eight days later and went on to serve as head of state for nearly thirty years.
Why it matters
Sadat's assassination showed how deep the opposition to his peace with Israel ran among Islamist militants inside Egypt, even as the treaty itself survived his death intact. Mubarak's nearly three-decade presidency that followed shaped Egypt's politics, economy, and relationship with the United States for a generation, ending only with his own removal in the 2011 revolution.
How we know
The circumstances of Sadat's assassination are documented by History, and Hosni Mubarak's succession to the presidency in the aftermath is confirmed in the US State Department's official record of his subsequent visits to Washington as head of state.
Sources
- History (A&E Television Networks). The president of Egypt is assassinated · Reputable sourcehistory.com · The domain "history.com" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- US Department of State, Office of the Historian. Egypt: Visits by Foreign Leaders · Reputable sourcehistory.state.gov · The domain "history.state.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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