241 US military personnel were killed when a suicide bomber drove a truck into a US marine barracks in Beirut. The explosives in the truck were equivalent to 18,000 pounds of dynamite. The attack was blamed on Shiite terrorists associated with Iran.

Earlier in the day, 58 French soldiers had been killed in their barracks, also by a suicide bomber.

US marines had joined an international force to oversee Palestinian withdrawal from the Lebanon.

The multinational force had been sent to help stop factional fighting between the Palestinian and Muslims, against the Christian Phalange Party and Maronite Christian community.