Bus bomb defused

Press, 15 August 1984, Page 1

Bus bomb defused

NZPA-AP Los Angeles A sharp-eyed police officer discovered a pipe bomb aboard a bus carrying the baggage of the Turkish Olympic team yesterday and disarmed it moments before it was to explode. The discovery of the bomb forced the evacuation of about 6000 people from three terminals at Los Angeles International Airport, police said. The athletes had already gone into the terminal when the bomb was discovered, said the police chief, Mr Daryl Gates. He said several Olympic security guards were aboard the bus, adding that the device could have caused “severe damage.”

Officer Jim Pearson “was checking round the area and noticed something shiny that should not have been there,” Mr Gates said. He did not say where the device was found. Police officer John Weick described the device as “about eight inches (20cm) long and about five inches (13cm) in diameter ... It was a cylindrical object with what looked to be some kind of timing device on one end.” Mr Gates said that Officer Pearson “pulled the device out of where it was located, determined it was about to go off.” The officer then carried

the pipe bomb to the tarmac, put it down, pulled some wires loose, ana ran, said Mr Gates. Officer Pearson successfully defused the bomb, and the bomb squad subsequently disposed of the device.

Olympic security officials had given extra protection to the 52-member Turkish delegation, which expressed fear of attacks by Armenian terrorists. Because of threats to the Turkish Olympic boxer, Cemal Oner, the sports arena was searched by police, security guards, secret service agents, and bomb-sniffing dogs before Oner’s August 5 bout against Pedro Ruben Decima, of Argentina. Oner lost. Death threats to Oner were made in Turkey and repeated in an unsigned note delivered to the Turkish consulate at Beverly Hills, said Mr Togay Bayatli, press attache for the Turkish National Olympic Committee.

Mr Bayatli said the threats came from the terrorist group, the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, and were among a dozen made against several athletes in the last three months. Turkish athletes were not allowed to leave Olympic villages during the Games.