European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 30, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday. December 30. 1b8b the stars and stripes Page 9 flight 103 bombing May put pressure on Bush his panel urged crackdown on terrorists in t86 by Michael wines new York times the finding that a bomb destroyed a pan am Jet Las week May pose serious foreign policy questions for president elect George Bush who led a 1986 panel Hal urged harsh action against International terrorism officials said wednes Day. The questions arise at a time of new suspicions that one of two palestinian groups closely linked to Libya or Syria engineered the bombing a week ago. A group linked to Iran is also under suspicion but is considered less Likely to have been the assailant. Identification of any of those group Sas responsible for the bombing would place immediate pressure on the United slates to retaliate either diplomatically or militarily against the country thai sponsored hem officials said As the Federal Bureau of investigation pledged a vigorous inquiry into responsibility for the bombing american officiate were said to have placed two groups Al the head of thei r list of suspects. One is the popular front for the liberation of Palestine general command led by a syrian army Veteran Ahmed Jibril. The Jibril group is based in dam ascus the syrian capital. The second is the Fatah revolutionary Council led by Abu Nidal a terrorist group based in Tripoli Libya that is most notorious for attacks in 1985 on airports in Vienna and Rome according 10 Western authorities both groups have denounced recent moves by Yasser Arafat chairman of the Palestine liberation Orean Zalton to seek a solution to the palestinian prob Lem in the Middle East through an inter National peace conference and talks wit the United states. Recent intelligence advisories have warned that those and other groups could step up terrorist activity in an Al tempt to sabotage Arafat s initiative. If either group is lied to the pan am disaster officials said the revelation could Force Washington into measures that could affect the proposals for a mid dle East peace outlined by Arafat this month a the United slates opened talks with the Palestine liberation organization after Arafat said he had renounced terrorism and recognized Israel s right to exist. Arafat s statements have been denounced As " reason by the Jibril group and other anti Arafat organizations based in Syria the most Rad ical of the so called front line Arab states in the Middle East. The United Stales has sought to draw Syria toward a More moderate political stance that would ease the process to Ward peace. But should the Jibril group be lied to the pan am bombing Ameri can and foreign experts said some for of american response against Syria would appear almost inevitable. If it Jav so the pop Asar front s state department official said they could thave done it without the assistance or at least the knowledge or Syria. 1 think we would have to look at Syria  the United slates already has threat ened this month to Lake military action against a chemical munitions Plant built by Libya not far from Tripoli. A proven role by the Abu Nidal group in the. Panama bombing would seem another Likely justification Given for action against col. Moa mar Qadhafi s regime. The United states and other nations isolated Syria diplomatically in 1986 after Britain s charges that Syria sponsored an Effort to blow up an Al Al jumbo Jet departing London for Israel. The actions came alter a series of terrorist acts believed to be supported by Syria the american assessment of the Panama bombing was conveyed by a Reagan administration official familiar with intelligence reports on the disaster. The View hat the two groups Are suspects i known to be shared by experts in Israel. Which is cooperating with the United Stales in the inquiry into the bombing. The Fri director William s. Sessions said his Agency had not ruled out  thai tilt Buff Bilig Wai it Crimi Nal act by someone other than a terrorist but he said that if a terrorist motive is proven the Fri will pursue the matter under a Lime used 1986 Law allowing the Bureau to investigate and arrest terrorists overseas.  .--.--. Sessions expressed Confidence that the person or group responsible for the act will be identified. He said Hie Fri is in a Vosti gating those who were Ever associated with victims of the night on the theory that a passenger was duped into. Carrying a bomb onto the aircraft. The state department said that three separate groups had claimed responsibility for the pan am attack and that All three claims were being taken seriously although none had been proven. One group the guardians of the islamic revolution based in Iran asserted shortly after the crash that the bombing was in retaliation for the . Navy Downing of an Iran air jumbo Jet in july in which 290 civilians died. That claim has been discounted by some american officials who note that the guardians have acted primarily against islamic dissidents in the past and have no record of Large state terrorist operations. A state department official re fused la reject the Puri bitty thai the group created in 979 on orders of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini could have executed such a bombing. American officials declined to state what evidence if any has led them to place anti Arafat groups such As the Abu Nidal and Jibril organizations at the top of its list of suspects in the bombing instead of organizations sponsored by Iran. A state department spokesman declined to name the other two groups thai have claimed responsibility Lor the pan am crash put like semtex Mac a bom easier Washington a when Nezar Hindawi wanted to blow up an israeli plane in 1986, he packed his Girlfriend s suitcase with 3 pounds of an odourless explosive called Senna a and sent her to London s Heathrow Airport to Board an Al Al Boeing 747. The bomb which was preset to detonate passed through an Airport a Ray machine and was discovered Only after an Al Al Security guard questioned the Young woman Anne Marie Murphy who was unaware she was carry ing the explosive device terrorism experts say Scmier which is one of the substances suspected in the bombing last week of fan am flight 103 Over Scotland is a terrorist s dream so far it has defied All detection attempts by a Ray machines Oiler devices and dogs trained to sniff bombs. Has favor Ilc with the regroups because it s significantly harder to detect than anything else it s More powerful than other plastics said George Carver a senior Cia analyst in the 1960s and 1970s who is now a researcher Al he Center for strategic and International studies a Washington think Tan t. Similar to its american Cousin c-4semiex is Mal Leable like Putty and shows up on an a Ray operator s screen As an indistinct dense mass. But unlike c-4 and other known plastic bombs semtex is odourless. Strucji also has the advantage of being stable meaning it cannot to off unless it is meant to. Terror ism experts including Neil Livingstone of Georgetown University say Scilex is so reliable Arab terrorists Haye used it in letter bombs sent to israeli officials. Technology is being developed to overcome these flex threat and two experimental devices Are in use at the los Angeles and san Francisco airports. The devices shoot neutrons that interact chemically with plastic explosives in Luggage and indicate the presence of  a Czechoslovakia which has a Well developed state run arms and munitions Industry makes semtex at the Eastern Bohemian works Livingstone said. Slate department officials say they have asked czech authorities in the past to Side making semtex or at least pre vent its export.-. A. 1 recently Czechoslovakia indicated it might be will ing to Slop Selling semtex said Livingstone who has served As a consultant on government Security and terrorism "-.-. Czechoslovakia is believed to have supplied semtex to Syria and Libya said one state department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Testifying at Hindawi s 1986 trial British authorities said Syria had supplied the bomb for the Al Al plane the British government subsequently broke off diplomatic relations with Syria Over the affair Al though tics later were restored. The stale department official said Libya has sup plied Scilex in several shipload of weapons sent to the Irish Republican army in 1936 and 1987 and May have Given it to other terrorist groups. Semtex also is believed to have been used by a tiny syrian and libyan supported palestinian group once called the May is organization that is now known As the Hawaii group. The group is believed to have been responsible for the april 19b6 explosion aboard a Twa Boeing 727 flying from Rome to Athens. Four americans were killed in the blast which greek investigators said probably was caused by a semtex bomb the size of two or three cigarette packs. The bomb was placed under a seat. The Hawaii group specializes in plastic bombs according to . Terrorism experts. One of Hawaii s operatives Mohammed Rashid is being sought by the United slates for questioning in the 1982 bombing of a pan am jetliner Over Hawaii which resulted in one death