(CNN) -- October 6, 1981, remains etched in the minds of Egyptians who witnessed the assassination of President Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat at the hands of four military officers during an annual parade celebrating the anniversary of Egypt's 1973 war with Israel.
In 1979, Sadat signed the
Camp David peace treaty with Israel that won him the Nobel Peace Prize
and the fury of many Arabs who accused him of betraying their cause.
In a tribute to the
former "hero of war and peace," as the inscription on his grave reads,
Egyptian State TV ran footage Thursday of the assassination, depicting
the moment Sadat stood in the pavilion saluting his killers while they
fired at him as French Mirage fighters screeched over the parade grounds
as part of the festivities.
Khaled El Islambouly, the lead gunman, was captured and executed.
Sadat's bullet-riddled
body was rushed to the Maadi Military Hospital and the president was
proclaimed dead at 2.40 p.m. due to "intense nervous shock and internal
bleeding in the chest cavity."
Talaat El Sadat, a former member of parliament and the nephew of the slain president, recalls the details of that grim day.
"The president thought
the killers were part of the show when they approached the stands
firing, so he stood saluting them," El Sadat told CNN.
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