State Department Quotes Phone Threat by Abu Nidal Terrorist Organizaiton

The State Department would not confirm Thursday that sabotage was the cause of the downing of Pan American Flight 103 in Scotland, but said an anonymous call Dec. 5 predicted the bombing of a U.S.-bound Pan Am jet within two weeks by the Abu Nidal Organization.

Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said a call was made to the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, warning that “sometime within the next two weeks there would be a bombing attempt against a Pan American aircraft flying from Frankfurt to the U.S.”

“According to the caller, an unidentified person in Helsinki would unwittingly take the device to Frankfurt and eventually onto the U.S.-bound flight,” she said.

The State Department notified the Federal Aviation Administration immediately, which notified airplane companies Dec. 7, Oakley said. U.S. embassies in Europe and elsewhere were also notified, she added.

“The possibility of sabotage has not been ruled out,” she said, but “any attempt at this time to draw a linkage between this incident and the specific threat is premature.”

In a telephone call to United Press International’s London bureau Thursday morning, Guardians of the Islamic Revolution claimed credit for the crash, Oakley said. She added:

“The name Guardians of the Islamic Revolution has been used to claim responsibility for several attacks in Europe, two incidents in London in 1987 and against Iranian dissidents opposed to the regime of Ayatollah Khomeini.”

“A similar-sounding name, Guardians of Islam, claimed responsibility for the hijacking of a July 31, 1984 Air France flight,” Oakley added.

The State Department’s report on terrorism in 1987 said the Abu Nidal group had carried out 90 terrorist attacks since 1974 in 20 countries, killing or injuring almost 900 people. Among its targets have been moderate Palestinians and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the report said.

The Abu Nidal group split from the PLO in 1974. Its major targets have included the Rome and Vienna airports in December 1985, the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul and Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, in September 1986.