Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 27, 1994 TAG: 9407290058
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police didn't say whether the bombings were linked, or give a target for the second attack. But Sky News television reported it was outside a building housing Israeli and Jewish organizations.
The bombings came after Israel and Jordan on Monday formally ended their long animosity, and a week after a bomb killed 95 people at a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The blast Tuesday at the Israeli Embassy destroyed a two-story brick annex between the embassy and its consulate, collapsing its roof and blowing out a section of its walls. One floor collapsed in the apartment building nearest the explosion, police said.
The explosion also broke windows at Kensington Palace. No group claimed responsibility, but Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel blamed Islamic extremists opposed to peace in the Middle East.
The second blast that injured three people occurred at 12:46 a.m. today in the north Finchley area, eight miles north of the Kensington district where the Israeli Embassy is located, police said. An unidentified caller told Independent Radio News: ``I was sitting doing a crossword puzzle when I heard this almighty explosion.
``It was a car bomb that went off. It (the car) was ablaze. The police cordoned off the area.''
Three people were hospitalized after today's attack. Their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, police said.
Eyewitnesses reported windows blown out and other damage and passers-by suffered cuts and shock.
Just before Tuesday's explosion, a smartly dressed woman had left an Audi with the trunk packed with explosives near the Israeli Embassy.
Police said although the woman did not appear unusual, she attracted the attention of two security men when she left the car in a nearby parking lot. As they approached, the gray Audi blew up and she disappeared in the confusion.
The woman was ``a middle-aged lady, well dressed, carrying a Harrods bag, who would blend in and not attract very much attention in Kensington High Street,'' said Commander David Tucker, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch.
Tucker said the woman was 55 to 60 years old, had light brown curly hair halfway down her back and appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin. The bomb went off within three minutes of her car's arrival, he said. ``There is no doubt in my mind that we face a wave of extreme Islamic radical terrorist movements in the Arab-Muslim countries,'' Rabin said in Washington. In the embassy bombing, Tucker said it was unclear where the woman entered Palace Green, the street outside the embassy, which has security checkpoints at both ends. Police and security officers also are stationed outside the embassy.
``Given the appearance of the woman and given the location of the Israeli Embassy this seems to be a return of Middle East terrorism to the streets of London,'' said Tucker.
He said the two officers approached the woman, but it was not clear whether they challenged her. Both officers suffered shock from the explosion and had not been able to give full accounts in the first hours after the blast.
``She may well have been spoken to. She clearly did something to arouse suspicion,'' Tucker said.
The embassy bombing was the first such incident in London since former Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Argov was crippled in an assassination attempt in 1982. Shortly thereafter, Israel invaded Lebanon.
Police estimated that 20 to 30 pounds of high explosives had been packed into the trunk of the Audi, which had fake license plates.
``It was such a huge, huge explosion. Parts of the building just collapsed,'' said Rachel Gordon, who works in the embassy's press office.
Windows were blown out of a high-rise building across the street, and glass cracked at Kensington Palace, home of Princess Diana, Princess Margaret and other members of the royal family.
Charing Cross Hospital said one of the 14 injured people treated there was in serious condition. An unknown number of people were treated at the scene. The injured suffered smoke inhalation, shock and cuts from shrapnel and glass.
Tucker confirmed that authorities recently had met with representatives of the Board of Jewish Deputies, who had called for parking to be banned outside certain facilities, including the embassy.
``We did have discussions along those lines a week ago ... and on balance the decision was made that parking restrictions were not the answer,'' Tucker said.
Workers at the embassy reacted quickly to the explosion.
``When we heard the explosion, we immediately laid down on the floor,'' said Amir Maimon, the second secretary at the embassy.
``Right afterwards we evacuated people from the embassy to Hyde Park and sent people home. ... Thank God we are all alive,'' he said.
by CNB