Săgănustă Hotel bombing

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Săgănustă Hotel bombing
Saganusta.png
Oil painting of the remnants of the Săgănustă Hotel, 1974.
Location Săgănustă Hotel, Săgănustă, Ojtas Province, Arieles Kingdom
Date Wednesday, August 21st, 1974

11:12 am OJST

Target Arieles government, civilians
Attack type Vehicle bombing, state-endorsed terrorism, mass murder
Deaths 173+
Non-fatal injuries 566
Perpetrators Yon Egeles Daragatosy and Bahren Eyel Nerolas
Motive Retaliation for perceived injustices against the Adborthosi.

For the other Aiadna endorsed bombing on August 21st, 1974, see Moszejye Bombing.

The Săgănustă Hotel bombing (Arieles: Săgănustă Tegeõsto, "Săgănustă tragedy;" Adborthos: Saganoost Helat bejenia) was a state-endorsed terrorist attack on the Săgănustă Hotel during the morning of August 21st, 1974. Carried out by two agents of the Adborthos Aiadna, Y. Daragatosy and B. Nerolas, the bombing killed at least 173 known Arieles and Kryfona, including Daharõn Sehel, the husband of then-queen Lira Sehel, and injured 566. The bombing also damaged twelve other buildings, and resulted in 650 million Õrailan in damages.[1]

The attack, which within two hours was quickly claimed to be the work of the Aiadna along with the later Moszejye Bombing, kicked off the three year long and six hundred thousand casualty Adborthos War. The official motivation for the attacks was later claimed by Aiadna leader Radina Nenathosin to be "injustice against the Adborthosi."[2]

In the aftermath of Săgănustă, the largest investigation in the history of the Arieles Kingdom, TEGEÕSTO ĂV SĂGĂNUSTĂ, was conducted on behalf of Sehel. It formally concluded in 1981, after analysis of just over 560,000 pieces of evidence. Daragatosy and Nerolas were convicted of the bombing shortly after, and in 1983 the duo were sentenced to death. Nerolas died in prison in 1984, while Daragatosy was executed in 1986, twelve years after Săgănustă.

As a result of Săgănustă, the Arieles Kingdom's parliament unanimously passed the Săgănustă Laws in 1977, which required all buildings built prior to the laws to be reinforced, and all future buildings to adhere to the new standards that the laws created. Since the passing of the laws, there has been only one major Arieles building disaster. The laws also made the former spot of the Săgănustă Hotel a formally protected area. A monument was built on the spot of the bombing in 1980.

Background

Motivation

According to the June 21st speech by Nenathosin, the major and official motivator for the bombing in Săgănustă was "injustice [by the Arieles] against the Adborthosi." It is unknown what "injustices" this remark referred to specifically, as Nenathosin never clarified his statement and later died in the Siege of Ratinethos. However, it most likely was in reference to the particularly vitriolic conflict between Adborthosi and Arieles over Yolatho, which at the time of the bombing was in one of its deadliest stages. In particular, around the time of the coup that brought down the government of Adborthos-Yolatho, Arieles forces killed at least twenty-three Adborthosi within the span of two months.[3] This, coupled with Nenathosin's already apparent dislike of the surrounding nations, likely lead to the order to bomb Săgănustă hotel.

Y. Daragatosy and B. Nerolas

Less is known about the involvement of the two bombers, Yon Daragatosy and Bahren Nerolas. While they were known to be agents of Nenathosin's Aiadna, much of the information surrounding them on the Adborthos side of things was lost in battle and later siege of Ratinethos. The pair additionally did not state their reasons for signing on to Nenathosin's plan at any point during their time in prison, and as such their motives have been lost to time.

Planning

Location

The location of the attack was effectively a spontaneous affair. As it was one of the last parts of Nenathosin's plan to be put to paper, it was finished merely days before he came to power. Originally, Nenathosin considered important buildings of all kinds within the Iliõrafili Capital Territory as potential targets. However, given the large distance between the border of the Adborthos Aiadna and the Capital Territory, Nenathosin scrapped the idea. Additionally, Nenathosin wished to strike somewhere in the Kryfona Kingdom around the time he struck the Arieles. Thus, Săgănustă, which sat both in a major city of the Kingdom and within casual distance of the Kryfona border, was chosen as the "perfect place" for the attack. His choice of the Săgănustă Hotel was based upon it being a stopover location for many heading to the north.

Bomb

The bomb that was employed to attack Săgănustă was really a combination of three types of bomb that had formerly been employed by the Army of Adborthos-Yolatho. Alone, the bombs were rather small, and did not produce particularly spectacular results. However, in a test conducted on August 17th, the triple-bomb combination proved to be devastating. Nenathosin oversaw the test, and upon its conclusion ordered Daragatosy and Nerolas to employ it in the attack.

Vehicle

The vehicle that the bomb was transported in is not exactly known due to the fact that it was effectively annihilated in the bombing. From what could be gathered, the vehicle used was a simple truck that was employed by the AAY. According to a declassified document[4] written several days after the attack was committed, the day before the attack, it was painted over to "prevent it from arousing any suspicion among the population of Săgănustă." The truck was also apparently to be driven by Nerolas.

During the night of the 20th, sometime around 11 pm, the truck was reported to have left Ratinethos, and began its several hour drive to Săgănustă. According to calculations conducted by the Arieles government during the TĂS investigation, the truck arrived there between 4 and 6 am.

Bombing

The original plan to bomb the Săgănustă Hotel entailed the bombing to be done around 10 am, when the hotel would be filled with the most people possible. However, upon Daragatosy and Nerolas' first attempt to park the truck in back of the Săgănustă at about 10:05, they apparently found that this would not be possible due to the high level of surveillance and drove a few blocks away.

Approximately an hour later, at 11:06, the pair began a second attempt to park the van in the back of the Săgănustă. This time, they managed to get the van behind the Săgănustă, parking it in the back lot at about 11:09 am.

The movement of Y. Daragatosy and B. Nerolas during the bombing.

References

  1. Per the findings of the TEGEÕSTO ĂV SĂGĂNUSTĂ investigation.
  2. As stated by Nenathosin verbatim in a June 21st speech to the city of Ratinethos.
  3. These deaths came to be known as the Yolatho killings, and were a touchy subject for even years after the fall of the Aiadna.
  4. The document in question was written up by the Aiadna government, and was titled "Regarding the Planning of Saagaanustaa"