French police sources confirmed today that the explosion at Sayne-Sur-Mer nuclear reactor plant was carried out by highly trained professionals but said they had no clue as to their nationality or motives. The explosion on April 6 wrecked nuclear equipment, including the “heart” of a sophisticated reactor that was due to be shipped to Iraq in 48 hours. The equipment, sold by France to Iraq, was stored in a huge warehouse by the sea. It will take two years to rebuild.
The police said the seven explosive charges seem to have been set off by men “who were experts both in the handling of explosives and in nuclear equipment.” The sources were not even prepared to guess which country may have arranged the sabotage.
French news magazines today listed Israel, anti-Iraqi Palestinians and West German terrorists as possible suspects. Two magazines, le Nouvel Observateur and L’Express, hinted that the French government itself is “relieved” not to have to supply Iraq with enriched uranium which could be used for military purposes.
The magazines said France is currently working on the development of law-grade uranium which cannot be used to build nuclear devices. The destruction of the equipment at La Sayne, said these magazines, enables France to avoid sending heavy uranium to Iraq.
ATTACK UNDER INVESTIGATION
The authorities imposed a total news blackout after the explosion which occurred at 3 a.m. local time. All that was known is that France’s main. counter-intelligence organizations, the DST and the SDECE, are investigating the attack. Today’s release confirmed an earlier Jewish Telegraphic Agency report that said the authorities suspected the commando unit was provided with inside information by accomplices within the manufacturing firm.
The reports said the attackers, probably three entered the warehouse without having had to break in, probably using regular keys. They also managed to neutralize the anti-burglary devices set in the warehouse. The assailants also seemed to know that the reactors, identified by the code names “Tammuz 1” and “Tammuz 2,” were ready to be shipped within 48 hours to Iraq.
The Iraqi equipment was in eight dome-shaped crates marked with cyphered letters. The attackers Other crates destined for West Germany and Belgium received only slight damage from flying debris.
Several French newspapers recalled the Cherbourg affair of Dec. 24, 1969, when an Israeli commando unit sailed out of Cherbourg harbor with five French-built gunboats ordered and paid for by Israel but detained under President de Gaulle’s June, 1967 embargo order. The French papers hinted in this way the possibility that Israel might have staged the Sayne-Sur-Mer explosions. French officials refuse, however, to level this accusation and say they have no information yet to trace the parties responsible for the sabotage.
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