Portimão hotel bombing

Portimão hotel bombing
Part of the Amador conflict (1983-1989)
Location	Hotel Embarcadouro, Portimão, Pacífico, Tasmana, The Furbish Islands
Date	19 Nivôse CLXXXIII (January 8, 1987 (1987-01-08)) 00:64 (1:32 am)
Target	Carlito Mendonça and Willemijn van den Bos
Attack type	Suicide bombing
Weapons	ANFO car bomb
Deaths	38 (including 2 perpetrators)
Non-fatal injuries	152 (22 critical)
Perpetrators	Narulian Liberation Front
Motive	Opposition to Agnian rule over Amador Preventing Furbish involvement in the Amador conflict

The Portimão hotel bombing was a suicide bombing on the Hotel Embarcadouro in Portimão, The Furbish Islands, carried out in the early morning of 19 Nivôse CLXXXIII (8 January 1987) by the Narulian Liberation Front in an attempt to assassinate Furbish Prime Minister Willemijn van den Bos and Agnian Prime Minister Carlito Mendonça, who was on an official visit, and to stop Furbish involvement in Amador conflict. A small van full of explosives crashed into the building then exploded, resulting in 38 deaths including two perpetrators, and 152 injuries, 22 being critical, most coming from shattered windows. Mendonça, van den Bos, and other politicians were unharmed as they were on the opposite side of the hotel. A second van that was to blow up that side took a wrong turn, delaying its arrival, before stopped by police a short distance away from the hotel. As a result of the attack, more Furbish troops were sent to Amador, culminating in Operation Red Sunset which put an end to open rebellion in the region.

Background

Main articles: Amador conflict and Amador conflict (1983-1989)

The region of Amador was given to Agnia during the Boston Peace Conference following the end of the First Great War, to opposition from locals. A phase of open rebellion began following the end of the Third Great War, being fought by militias from its four major ethnic groups. Furbish troops were present in the region since the end of the war and assisted the Agnians. The Narulian Liberation Front (NCF) was the larger of two militias of Narulians, and they carried out bombings, assassinations, and other attacks in the Agnian cities in Amador as well as Agnia proper. They previously attempted to assassinate Prime Minister Carlito Mendonça several times, though these attempts were all thwarted by Agnian security forces.

Mendonça planned official visits to five countries in a tour to take place in early-CLXXXIII (beginning of 1987), including to The Furbish Islands. He was to meet with then recently inaugurated Prime Minister Willemijn van den Bos in Portimão, the largest city in the Agnian-speaking province of Pacífico.

Bombing

Preparation

The NCF knew of Mendonça's planned visit to Portimão for weeks. Much of the planning was done by Bayarmaa Khoridai, who traveled to The Furbish Islands under the guise of visiting a sick family member. She first went to Portimão to gather information about the hotel, then traveled to several other cities to see how easy it would be to get materials needed. She noted how easy it was to obtain fertilizer in The Furbish Islands and how nothing would stop a vehicle from being able to drive close to a building any government official is staying at, and how no Furbishmen seemed to hold any prejudices towards Narulians like Agnians in Amador did. Khoridai planned on staying in The Furbish Islands until the bombing was done, release a statement to the Furbish media, then board a flight to Narulia.

Four NCF operatives flew into Tasmana on the afternoon of 16 Nivôse (5 January). Twin brothers Mungke Guchlug and Tuva Guchlug flew to Urrugne, and Shinghkhor Orduoronartai and Ibakha Tokuremur flew to Kitchener. Both pairs knew of the full plan but were not in contact with each other. Each pair rented a van then drove to motels in the countryside where they spent the night. While they arrived at The Furbish Islands with their real passports, all purchases, including hotel stays and vans, were made under fake names with forged passports, which even included forged stamps. However, on the first motel, Tokuremur signed a document with her real name. The owner later said he saw her pausing when about to sign, usually a sign that a person could not decide what name to use, so the owner began a conversation to distract her.

On the 17th (6th), both pairs drove towards Portimão, stopping along stores in towns and smaller cities to buy materials to make the bombs. They did not take direct routes, though were careful to not return to a town or city they have already been to. Mungke and Tuva Guchlug drove east through New Anglia until reaching the coast, then turned north and drove along the coast through Cumberland, ending the day in southern Pacífico. Orduoronartai and Tokuremur drove north then west along the coast and stopping in Nueva Asturias. They once again used fake names on all purchases and paid in cash. The next day, they all pulled to isolated roads in the countryside where they assembled the bombs, then drove to Portimão.

Attack and response

The original plan had both vans arriving to Hotel Embarcadouro at 1:25 am, or around 0:59 Furbish time (The NCF decided early on to use 12-hour watches as opposed to Furbish time). They would then crash the vans into two sides of the hotel and detonate the explosives, hopefully causing the hotel to collapse and kill the occupants. However, Orduoronartai and Tokuremur misread their map, instead driving towards a suburb of Portimão of the same name before realizing their mistake.

Mungke and Tuva Guchlug arrived on time. According to CCTV cameras, they circled the block once, slowly, seemingly waiting for the second van to arrive. At 0:64 (1:32), they decided to go through with the attack without Orduoronartai and Tokuremur, and drove the van into the lobby, which was on their side of the hotel, and exploding two seconds after crashing. Parts of the side of the building collapsed and many windows in the area were shattered.

Police and the Gendarmery were mobilized shortly after the explosions took place. The first officers arrived by 0:65 (1:34), and by 0:75 (1:48) they completely cordoned off the hotel and surrounding buildings. Firefighters and ambulances arrived soon after and immediately began searching for people through the rubble. Rescue efforts continued into the morning, while people who survived the blast were evacuated and sent to other hotels.

Orduoronartai and Tokuremur heard the explosion but still continued driving towards the hotel. At around 1:45 (0:73), they were stopped by police officers two blocks from the building and were ordered to turn back. Orduoronartai and Tokuremur attempted to drive past, after which one of the officers shot their tires and both were arrested and dragged out of the van. The officers searched the van and saw the fertilizer in the back. Two drove the van away to a police station far away from the city center where the bomb was disassembled safely.

Casualties

35 people were killed either as a direct result of the blast or from the building's collapse, and one more would die of injuries several hours later. 105 people from the hotel were injured, 22 critically. 62 people from the hotel as well as 47 people from surrounding buildings were injured by windows shattering.

No Furbish or Agnian government officials were killed or seriously injured. Furbish foreign affairs minister Victor Borne was the closest to being killed. His entire suite except for the bathroom was destroyed in the building's collapse, and he and his wife Isabelle survived because they were both in the bathroom. When found by firefighters, they refused to leave until they were given robes. This story was leaked to the press by an unknown source and the couple refused to comment on it, though Isabelle admitted on her deathbed that it was true. Some Furbish and Agnian politicians, including Mendonça, were injured by shattered glass and were driven to the nearby Universidade de Portimão Medical Center.

Van den Bos, another target of the bombing, completely escaped injury. The blast shattered the windows in her suite but left the rest of it undamaged. Van den Bos was still awake working on a speech as the bomb went off. Reportedly, her initial reaction was "Tell them to fuck off I'm busy", unaware a bombing just happened. Her husband, Arjen, was woken up from the blast. He quickly realized what happened and told her. Within several minutes, agents from the Parliament Guard knocked on the door and drove them to a nearby hospital after both changed their clothes. The couple were released after 20 Furbish minutes (29 minutes) and were driven to a police station.

Immediate aftermath

Two gendarmes stood by a nearby undamaged department store with Furbish defense minister Jan Creuzburg and Agnian foreign minister Toninho Sá. When the manager entered at around 2:50 (6:00 am), they persuaded him to open the store earlier so people who lost their clothes in the bombing can buy replacements.

Van den Bos planned an impromptu press conference in front of the damaged hotel, which was attended by all politicians who stayed in it. They had all been discharged from the hospital by that point. After being driven back to it from the police station, Van den Bos walked by Orduoronartai and Tokuremur, who still sat in the backseat of a police car, and said "You two should consider yourselves lucky that I am not your prosecutor.". Arjen then walked between them and pushed van den Bos away.

The press conference began at 3:50 (8:24 am). Behind van den Bos stood several Furbish and Agnian officials with their spouses, including Mendonça, and a row of gendarmes holding their rifles. In it, she strongly condemned the attack and NCF, and promised retaliation. She then traveled to the Universidade de Portimão Medical Center again to visit the injured. After that planned meeting between the Furbish and Agnian governments continued, this time in the nearby Pierre-Patrich Hotel. The rest of Mendonça's visit in The Furbish Islands and his tour continued as planned, though more security precautions were taken.

Aftermath

Statement

After hearing the explosion Khoridai dropped off a prepared statement to the mailbox of the Furbish National Broadcasting Corporation's Portimão station. It read:

Today the Narulian Liberation Front ordered a strike that led to the deaths of Mrs. Willemijn van den Bos and Mr. Carlito Mendonça, among others. The Furbish and the Agians learned today that they cannot torture and kill our people and get away with it by hiding in their faraway islands. Our demands are clear: depart from Amador and there will be peace.

Khoridai soon realized she only heard one explosion instead of two, then ran to the Hotel Embarcadouro. When she was near the hotel, two gendarmes stopped her and ordered her to turn around. Khoridai arrived to that street just in time to see an unscathed van den Bos being escorted to a Parliament Guard car. She turned around and ran back to her hotel, took a statement she prepared in case van den Bos was not killed, and dropped it off at the FNBC station's mailbox. This statement said the NCF will try again reading:

The Furbish under the regime of Mrs. Willemijn van den Bos and the Agians under the regime of Mr. Carlito Mendonça learned today that they cannot torture and kill our people and get away with it by hiding in their faraway islands. Our demands are clear: depart from Amador and there will be peace. We were unlucky today, but remember that we need to be lucky only once. You need to be lucky every time.

Khoridai then tried to get the mailbox open to take out the original statement. She was caught by police officers who were driving to Hotel Embarcadouro. They arrested her on the spot and drove her to a station, not aware that she was related to the bombings.

Both statements were first read out by the FNBC station in their 2:50 (6:00 am) news show. The show played on the radio in the police station where van den Bos was staying, and hearing the former statement made her angry. She personally showed up to the station to prove that she was alive and informed them of the press conference she was going to have. She reportedly said "Nobody fucks with a van den Bos" as she exited the building.

Furbish response

The bombing was condemned by the government of Pacífico as well as Furbish opposition leader Nicholas Monaghan. Though the latter has been critical of Furbish soldiers being sent abroad, he stated his support for "retaliatory measures against terrorists who attack Furbish citizens on Furbish soil". Van den Bos, who was inaugurated as Prime Minister less than four months earlier, saw her approval rating increase significantly. However, many across the country, especially in Boston, joked that "The only tragedy from the Portimão bombing is that van den Bos was unscathed.".

Two days after the bombing, the government released plans of Operation Embarcadouro, where more Furbish troops will be sent to Amador to help end the rebellion. By this point Agnian troops were making gains against rebel forces but still struggling against them in the mountains. Additional Furbish manpower, combined with a Furbish-led air campaign known as Operation NameTBD, led to rebel forces losing more ground, eventually leading to their defeat during Operation Red Sunset.

Investigations and trials

Several police officers in Portimão believed that Khoridai may have been involved in the bombing, in part due to CCTV footage showing her running back and forth between Hotel Embarcadouro and the FNBC radio station, and because she was found carrying three passports, one with her real name and two with her picture and fake names. She was originally indicted by the federal government for forgery, as all three passports contained Furbish passport stamps and officers reasoned at least two of those stamps must be forged. Federal Security Agency agents subsequently searched Khoridai's hotel room and her phone, where they found evidence that she was responsible for planning the bombings.

All three defendants were tried in federal court in Fort Hillen. All provinces allowed federal prosecutors to handle provincial charges, including murder and fraud which were committed in several provinces. Due to the nature of the crimes, the trials were closed to the public. Controversial lawyer and anti-government activist Harry Deek offered to represent all defendants.

The trial of Orduoronartai and Tokuremur began on 18 Brumaire CLXXXIV (9 November 1987) and was presided over by federal judge Danilo Águas. Octávio Bento led the prosecution. On DATE, the pair were convicted on six counts of attempting to murder federal politicians, four counts of attempting to murder foreign dignitaries, one count of creating and possessing a weapon of mass destruction, two counts each of fraud for holding passports with forged Furbish passport stamps, three more counts of fraud for using fake IDs. The pair were convicted on 24 Nivôse CLXXXIV (14 January 1988) and were sentenced to 120 years in prison.

Khoridai's trial began on 18 Prairial CLXXXIV (6 June 1988), and she was indicted on 36 counts of aiding and abetting first degree murder, 152 counts of aiding and abetting an attempted murder, six counts of conspiracy to commit murder against federal politicians, four counts of conspiracy to commit murder against foreign dignitaries, and two counts of fraud. It was once again presided over by Águas and Haroldo Campos led the prosecution. On 3 Fructidor (20 August), Khoridai was convicted and given 1500 years in prison, which remains one of the longest prison sentences given out in Furbish history.

The three defendants did not attempt to argue against the prosecutors and made it clear they did not recognize the authority of the Furbish courts. They spent the trials denouncing the Furbish and Agnian governments, and saying any harm done to them will result in retaliation by the NCF. They did not appeal their convictions.

Hunger strikes

On 18 Floréal CLXXXV (7 May 1989), Khoridai, Orduoronartai, and Tokuremur suddenly announced the beginning of a hunger strike, stating that "We are being treated as criminals and not Narulian soldiers.". They demanded to be released as the war in Amador was over and the Narulian Liberation Front effectively ceased to exist as a result of Operation Red Sunset. They also likely believed that Monaghan, who recently became Prime Minister, was more open to negotiation than van den Bos was. Van den Bos, who was relegated to the backbenches following the previous election, urged the government to refuse to negotiate, saying in the National Assembly:

[Khoridai, Orduoronartai, and Tokuremur] chose to die, a choice they did not give to 36 men and women on the night of 18 Nivôse. So fucking let them.

Monaghan did send multiple representatives to negotiate an end to the hunger strike, though he did not reach any breakthrough. Orduoronartai was the first to die after 59 days, followed shortly by Khoridai after 61 days, then Tokuremur after 62 days. They were aged 29, 34, and 28 respectively. Their bodies were flown to Amador.

Funeral processions for the three were held in several cities and villages around Amador. The largest was in Forbsia, where an estimated 20,000 people, or around 80% of the city's Narulian population, attended. Riots began afterwards, which resulted in 59 deaths and 215 injuries, most caused by the heavy-handed response by Agnian security forces. A Furbish barracks was broken into, and though rioters were repelled without any Furbish casualties, the event caused Monaghan to order the withdrawal of all Furbish soldiers from Amador.

Legacy

The bombing is the deadliest attack to take place in the province of Pacífico.

As a result of the bombing

Memorials

The Hotel Embarcadouro was rebuilt shortly following the bombing. Plaques honoring the victims were placed on the exterior of the side of the building that exploded and inside the lobby.

In Tavira, the capital of Agnia, one street was renamed to Embarcadouro and also has a small memorial to the victims of the bombing.