A 36-year-old Algerian, Mohamed Boudiah, was killed today when his car exploded in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Boudiah was wanted by the Italian police for his alleged role in the bomb attack against oil installations in Trieste last Aug.
Police have not been able to determine so far whether the explosion was caused by a bomb planted in the car or whether it was a bomb Boudiah was carrying that exploded. His body was blown to pieces.
Boudiah, known to French police for his alleged role in the Trieste bombing, disappeared after Aug. 1972 when the bombing occurred. Last March 14, Italian police arrested two members of the Trieste Black September Command, Mohamed Adib Sadat Salem Hussein, 31 and Taleb Talab El Jabbari. 43. The Black September claimed credit for the Trieste bombing.
BEN BELLA FRIEND
Boudiah, who had been a friend of Ben Bella, a member of the National Liberation Front (FLN) and director of the Algerian Theater, fled to France in 1965 when President Boumedienne came to power. He was subsequently sentenced to death in absentia. Boudiah was a leader of the left-wing opposition RUR (Regrouping of Revolutionary Units.)
He was well-known in Parisian theater circles and particularly in the West Paris Theater where friends called him “Bounce.”
He was also known in Palestinian circles here as a “friend of the Palestinian cause” and was active in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. These circles refused to say whether he was a member of the Black September. Algerian circles refused to comment except to describe Boudiah as a “fighter.” Israeli circles here professed no knowledge of the affair.
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