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Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5 CHICAGO TRIBUNE 3 June 1984 SPECIAL EDITION -- TERRORISM -- 26 JUNE 1984 Terrorist Incidents Pg. 7 21 bombs trigger fears of more to come in Midwest By Douglas Frantz and Philip Wattley THE DISCOVERY of 21 small bombs in Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota has rompted warnil from federal and local authorities residents in eight Midwestern states that more of the devices might be planted. cove laygrounds, is and shoppln centers. "x Te le have suffered minor injuries, but authorities said the devices could cause serious harm. The construction of the bombs has varied. The three earliest were built, inside paper sacks, but the last 18 were more pot bombs inside pieces of steel pipe about 6 inches long. Some were designed to be trig- gered when they were picked up; others were set off by trip wires; and still others had electric circuits that would be completed when a dollar bill was pulled out. A BOMB FOUND in Chicago was a bare steel pipe with a battery strap- le, while bombs baited ped to the si with dollar bills in Milwaukee were wrapped in plain brown 7 ‘aL are believed by authorities to be the work of a single person or a group. . Most have been concealed in pub- lic places, prompting authorities to warn citizens. to be wary of any suspicious Package or object, from an apparently empty sack to what look like a bag of money. “If you see any suspicious’ object, font ouch i dt row Togs a mn’ lo any except ci ur police department.” eaid: Peter Mastin, the Bureau of Alcohol, To- bacco and Firearms [ATF] agent ye is heading the federal investiga- Mastin and other authorities said they fear more bombs will be dis- covered over the weekend, but they have been unable to come up with a suspect or a motive. “We can’t discount anything at this time, and we have to follow every-lead, but we just don’t have a suspect,” said Mastin. “What we’ve got is a helluva mystery.” THE REMAINS of all 21 ‘bombs are being tested by the ATF labora-' tory in Rockville, Md., to determine’ whether the bombs were. made with the same material. The strongest evidence of a link between the bombs is the virtually identical notes attached to many of the pipe bombs. ee The notes read: “Violence by your North Central Gay Strike Force against public and police oppres- sion.” Some notes also listed eight states, which police believe are tar- gets of the bomber or bombers: Illi- nois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Min- nesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and South Dakota. Police and members of the gay community say they have never heard of the “strike force,” and some speculated that the bombs ma be the work of an individual who strongly antigay. “It is conceivable that this vio- lence is aimed at turning people away from the gay community and its recent progress,” said Richard Wagner, cochairman of the Gover- nor’s Council for the Gay and Les- bian Community in Wisconsin. WAGNER AND others speculated that the bombings may have started in Wisconsin because of the state’s: progress toward insuring gay rights. Federal authorities and police in three states are piecing together a trail of bombs and fear that appar- ently started in Eau Claire, Wis. On May 5, two paper sacks in the small Wisconsin town exploded when they were picked up, four people suffered sight injuries from fl metal, said Inspector William Fesen- maier of the Eau Claire police. No notes were found with the Eau Claire bombs or with a similar sack bomb discovered the following day in Chippewa Falls, Wis. 75 y {May 31 & June 1: {13 bombs found; May 5: 2 sack bombs #4 explode; 4 hurt ae me May 31 & June 1: | Two bombs found |} Mastin said the sack bombs are considered part of the series, despite their differences with pipe bombs, discovered in the last nine days. ON FRIDAY, May 25, six powerful: pipe bombs were discovered in La the ase ofa slide Ie e playground of a in a pla: and three with trip wires stretched across alleys off downtown streets. One man was slightly injured when a bomb exploded as he opened the rear door of a Catholic church, said Michael Abraham, a La Crosse po- lice detective. The other bombs were found by police before they went off. The first notes claiming responsi- bility were found in La Crosse. Abra- ham said three bombs were accom-_ nied by hand-scrawled notes in lack ink that said the bombs were the work of the “North Central Gay. Strike Force.” The pipe bombs were about.6 inch- es long and %4-inch in diameter and foaded ‘with gunpowder, screws and nails. All were set to be triggered by trip wires. ON SUNDAY, May 27, a cautious passerby saw what he believed was a trip wire hidden in some brush in Stillwater, Minn. He set off the bomb by throwing a rock at the wire, a tactic that authorities warn is dan- Later Sunday and early Monday, CONTINUED NEXT PAGE Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5