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October 8 in Middle East History

By Pierre Tristam, About.com

1912: Montenegro declares war on Ottoman Turkey, triggering the First Balkan War.

1973: During the Yom Kippur war, an Israeli counter-attack in the Sinai, led by Col. Gabi Amir, failes. Some 150 Israeli tanks are destroyed.

1997: The Clinton administration designates 18 groups as foreign terrorist organizations. Mot of the groups are in Japan, Peru, Greece, Colombia, Cambodia, Chile, Spain, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, but in the Middle East they include groups in Algeria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. Among them: The Kurdistan Workers Party, which operates in Turkey and Iraq seeking autonomy for Kurds.

2005: An earthquake centered in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, devastates communities on the Pakistani and Indian side of the disputed region. Some 86,000 people are killed, most of them in Pakistan.

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