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Watch: VP Pence commemorates 34th anniversary of Marine Corps barracks bombing in Beirut

Posted at 9:53 AM, Oct 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-23 12:40:40-04

US marines continue to search for victims, on October 31, 1983, after a terrorist attack against the headquarters of the U.S. troops of the multinational force that killed 241 American soldiers on October 23, 1983 in Beirut. (Photo credit should read PHILIPPE BOUCHON/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech Monday on the 34th anniversary of the attack on a United States Marine Corps barracks in Beirut.

Pence also visited with survivors of the attack.

The attack occurred October 23, 1983 when a truck carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives drove into the Marine compound in Beirut, Lebanon, and crashed into the 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regimental Battalion Landing Team barracks.

The attack killed 241 US service personnel and was the deadliest attack against US Marines since the battle of Iwo Jima.

The bombing was traced to Hezbollah, a militant and political group that originated in Lebanon in 1982.