TERRORISM REVIEW

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CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3
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RIPPUB
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S
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27
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December 22, 2016
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July 28, 2011
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2
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Publication Date: 
August 26, 1985
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REPORT
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Directorate of Secret Terrorism Review Secret GI TR 85-017 26 August 1985 532 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Terrorism Reviewl I 25X1 25X1 25X1 3 Highlights Terrorism Analysis Branch, DI/OGI GAL: Counterterrorism in Spain 25X1 25X1 Terrorism in Europe, 1984/85 (Part II) 21 Chronology of Terrorism-1985 Terrorism Analysis Branch, DI/OGI This review is published every other week by the Directorate ollntelligence. Appropriate articles produced by other elements of the CIA as well as by other agencies of the US Intelligence Community will be considered for publication. Comments and queries are welcome and may be directed to the Executive Editor 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 The Red Army Faction (RAF) attack on Rhein-Main Airbase on 8 August underscores the group's continuing ability to carry out major operations. The RAF has recovered completely from the 1982-84 counterterrorist successes against it, recruiting new members and rebuilding its logistic base during 1984. The group's history of major attacks in short succession points to another attack in the near future. The Rhein-Main attack, which killed two Americans and caused $300,000 in property damage, was the group's first major operation in six months. Several innovations employed in the attack may portend an increased threat to US and NATO interests and reduce the potential for warning of forthcoming RAF attacks: ? The joint claim of responsibility by the RAF and the French Action Directe (AD) marked the first time the latter had taken credit for an attack in West Germany. ? The RAF-AD communique was issued in the name of the "George Jackson Commando," the first time European terrorists have invoked the name of an American in one of their claims. ? It marked the first time an RAF communique gave specific support to a local issue~pposition to the runway expansion at Frankfurt International Airport. The most disturbing new development in the incident, however, was the possibility that the RAF was responsible for the murder of a US Army enlisted man the night before the airbase attack. The soldier's identification card was mailed to Reuter news service on 13 August wrapped in a copy of the RAF-AD communique. If the RAF did murder the soldier-an assumption yet to be proved-this would be the first time the group has done so in preparation for an operation; it would also represent the first time the RAF has deliberately targeted US enlisted personnel. In the past, the RAF always stole the vehicles and license plates used in car bomb attacks. The vehicle used at Rhein-Main, however, was purchased at an auto fair on 28 July by a woman believed to be a member of the group's hardcore, and bore license plates fabricated by the group. In addition, the attack was conducted with homemade explosives, even though the supply of dynamite stolen from a Belgian quarry in June 1984 is unlikely to have been exhausted. We are concerned that, should the group no longer use stolen vehicles, plates, and explosives, we will have lost potentially useful indicators of impending RAF activity. 1 Secret G! TR 85-017 26 August 1985 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 It is not clear whether the Rhein-Main bombing is a continuation of last winter's "antiimperialist front" campaign-after asix-month lull~r the start of a new terrorist offensive. In either case, it was probably not an isolated event, and more attacks can be expected. In fact, past experience leads us to anticipate another major strike within the next several weeks. The RAF car bomb attack on Ramstein Airbase on 31 August 1981 was followed by the attempted assassination of the US Army Commander in Europe two weeks later. The failed bombing at Oberammergau last December was followed soon thereafter by the assassination documents discovered in an RAF safehouse last summer revealed extensive knowledge of US, NATO, and West German installations. The RAF is fully capable of conducting more attacks. It has recovered from the last major West German counterterrorist success-the arrest of six members and confiscation of numerous planning documents last summer-and apparently was unharmed by the discovery of another safehouse in July 1985. The RAF appears to have added a new level of personnel to its action cadres, the "illegal militants," and to have increased its hardcore membership by recruiting from its support periphery. the hardcore now numbers at least 20-eight more than previously believed-some of whom are not known to West German police. In addition, the group has a large supply of weapons and explosives and a repository of information on a large number of potential targets. The RAF apparently views the Rhein-Main bombing as another step in advancing the "antiimperialist front" proclaimed last January. The RAF's collaborators in the front-Action Directe and the Belgian Communist Combatant Cells (CCC~ may well attempt their own attacks in the near future as they did in the late 1984~arly 1985 campaign. Such activity could include major bombings or assassinations, as well as nonlethal property attacks against undefended targets, such as NATO pipelines, by the terrorist periphery in West Germany. The Rhein-Main attack indicates that the decision of the RAF leadership to create a multitiered movement, as outlined in their April 1984 discussion paper, has been successful. The changes in tactics and operational innovations may have been the work of new militants in the group who are more confident of their own skills than of those of the former hardcore. If the RAF did commit the murder of the US Army enlisted man, it is a particularly ominous development: it would lower the threshold of target selection and increase substantially the risk to all US military personnel based in West Germany and Belgium. 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret Highlights damage and only two injuries, ETA will probably continue the attacks at least ETA Antitourism Campaign Continues The Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA), while apparently displeased with the results to date of its summer campaign directed at tourists along Spain's Costa del Sol, still appears determined to continue its antitourist efforts. Although the low- level bombings along the beaches that began in May have thus far caused little through August to gain international publicity for the Basque separatist cause Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, and Munich. In June, ETA sent letters to Spanish tourist offices in France and Spain claiming credit for the attacks and pointing out the risks tourists run while vacationing on Spain's Mediterranean coast. Similar warning letters were sent to the Lufthansa Airlines ticket office and several travel agencies in West Berlin on 5 August, following the injury of two Swedes in a bombing on 1 August. These letters- which the Spanish police believe to be authentic-warned that the Spanish Government could not guarantee the safety of foreign visitors and that anyone connected with travel to Spain would be responsible for any misfortune resulting from such travel. Identical warning letters were sent to travel agencies in Bonn, disillusionment with the present political system. National Revolution: New Group or GAL Splinter? A previously unknown rightwing group calling itself National Revolution surfaced on 5 August, claiming aloes-level arson attack two days earlier on the headquarters of the People's Alliance First Party in Arganzuela. A telephone caller described National Revolution as a neofascist group responsible for 24 attacks on political parties throughout Spain in the last year. He vowed more attacks, against people as well as political facilities, because of the group's Antiterrorist Liberation Group (GAL) earlier the same day. As promised, National Revolution claimed responsibility for an arson attack against the Pamplona headquarters of the political arm of the Basque group ETA, Herri Batasuna (Political Unity), on 17 August. The caller claimed the attack was in retaliation for the ETA murder of a suspected member of the rightwing violence. Self-proclaimed antiterrorist groups-the Anti-ETA Terrorism, the Anti- communist Apostolic Alliance, and the Spanish Basque Battalion-have appeared in Spain since 1975. The counterterrorist efforts of the best-known such group, GAL, have been larger in scope and had more impact in both France and Spain. Recent press speculation on Spanish Government connections to GAL may have led to the emergence of this new rightwing group in another attempt to curb ETA 3 Secret GI TR 85-017 26 August 1985 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 ~ u ... , ~. .. ..~...~.... ~.... .... .... _ , ... .~.~ Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 six weeks. Syrians Blame Fatah for Damascus Bombings On 31 July two satchel charges exploded in downtown Damascus; the first near the Syrian news agency SANA and the second under a military bus parked at Marjah Square. Seven people, including the bomber, were killed in the Marjah Square bombing. These were the latest in a series of sabotage attacks in Syria over the last Palestinians and tightened security in Damascus. Morocco-Algeria Algerian-Trained Terrorists Arrested Moroccan security officials announced that atwo-month investigation had resulted in the arrest on 8 July of two armed Moroccan nationals for planning to commit terrorist acts. following arms and explosives training from Algerian security officers, they were provided with weapons and money. At least two similar groups were arrested by Spanish and Moroccan police. Trials are scheduled before the end of August. ~ him with the deputy director. National Police Indicted in Political Killings On 1 August, Chief Investigating Judge Jose Canovas issued his long-awaited report on National Police involvement in the killings of three Communists in late March. He charged that 14 policemen were involved but claimed that, as a civil judge, he lacked jurisdiction to prosecute military personnel. Shortly thereafter, Chilean President Pinochet dismissed the National Police director and replaced Canovas's charges, which followed on the heels of late July antigovernment violence, presented the Pinochet regime with its most serious public crisis since late 1984. There is widespread suspicion that the regime is not moving rapidly to 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret prosecute those charged in the March killings. Opposition groups are expected to try to capitalize upon what they perceive to be regime weakness. Recent violence has included numerous bombings since the car bombing of the US Consulate in Santiago on 19 July. Since 9 August, there has been a bombing virtually every day against police stations. bank. Continued Urban Terrorism Sendero Luminoso terrorists conducted several attacks in Lima on the night of 7 August that left the entire metropolitan area without electricity for about two hours. Among the targets in Lima were a prison, where a car bomb injured three civilians and one policeman; the City Hall, where police discovered about 40 sticks of dynamite in a second-floor waiting room; an Aprista Party office; and a state The 7 August attacks are evidence that, despite recent arrests of Sendero Luminoso cadre, the group retains the ability to carry out coordinated urban attacks with relative impunity. Since 1982, Lima has been blacked out 14 times- the last total blackout occurring on 7 June. resume the cease-fire negotiations they severed last month. Guerrilla Group's Strategy A recent press report indicates that guerrillas of the M-19 organization have sent a message to President Betancur listing five conditions under which they would Betancur has ordered the Army to end its encirclement of an M-19 Central African Republic Mobilizing Against Libyan Meddling Libya appears to be increasing its subversive activity in the Central African Republic. Fifteen Central Africans-reportedly a dormant support apparatus- were arrested in early July for conspiring with the Libyan People's Bureau in increase its official presence. (similar to those it has with Chad and Cameroon), and denied a Libyan request to beefed up its counterterrorism capability, discussed closer security ties with Zaire Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 I1 V 1....L L......_ _. _ ._ ....1 ~ . ,. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret Antiterrorist Security Force Created The National Security Guard (NSG) was created recently to deal with regional separatist unrest such as the Sikh and Assamese problems, which have proved difficult to handle in a more conventional manner. It will have four primary responsibilities: security for the Prime Minister; support to the Army in quelling serious internal disorder; protection of sensitive government facilities; and combating external aggression. As of early August, some 3,000 persons, including two Army generals and 200 other officers, had already been assigned to this unit, whose planned complement reportedly will total 27,000. The majority of the NSG's personnel will come from the armed forces, the police, the border security force, and the central reserve police force. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret in Spain Since December 1983 the Antiterrorist Liberation Group (GAL) has targeted members of the Spanish Basque separatist group Fatherland and Liberty (ETA),' in southwestern France. GAL activities have not, however, deterred ETA, which in the spring of 1985 launched an assassination campaign that to date has claimed the lives of 25 Spanish officials. Recent press speculation that the Spanish Government is involved with GAL and the arrests of several GAL operatives by the French could damage the counterterrorist cooperation between Spain and France. If evidence connecting GAL to high-ranking Spanish officials is made public, some of the waning public sympathy for ETA in the Basque provinces may be revived-slowing down the progress the Gonzalez government has made in resolving the longstanding Basque terrorist problem. The Group and Its Activities The Antiterrorist Liberation Group first claimed responsibility for an operation in December 1983- shortly after the Gonzalez government hardened its attitude toward the Basque terrorist group in the wake of the particularly senseless kidnaping and murder of a Spanish Army pharmacist. Although Gonzalez remained open to behind-the-scenes talks with ETA, he publicly renewed his vow never to negotiate with assassins, rebuked the moderate Basque Nationalist Party's call fora "political solution" to the terrorist problem, and asserted that only rigorous police measures could eliminate ETA. GAL's first publicly claimed act occurred in the French Basque town of Hendaye, when a Spanish Basque businessman was kidnaped and held for 10 days. In a communique, GAL announced its determination to respond "blow for blow" against ETA, which GAL stated was directed by Spanish ' ETA (short for Euskadi to Askatasuna, or Basque Fatherland and Liberty) has split into several factions since its emergence in the late 1950s as a terrorist group composed largely of nationalistic, anti-Franco students. Today the larger and more militant faction is the military wing (ETA-M); the smaller and now almost depleted faction is the political-military wing (ETA-PM)~~ Basque refugees living in France. During the next three months, GAL assassinated six Spanish Basques in France. By June 1985, the toll from GAL bombers and assassins had reached 15 dead and two dozen wounded. In May 1985, Spain's leading news magazine, Cambio 16, reported that the French police and judiciary believe that GAL grew out of the Spanish Basque Battalion (BVE),Z a rightwing group founded during the Franco era. The magazine claimed that over half of the mercenaries operating in GAL's name also worked for the BVE. Some of the BVE members with ties to GAL included: ? Andre Pervins, 49, a naturalized French citizen of Czechoslovakian birth. Pervins, a much decorated offiicer in the French Army, had served in Indochina, Algeria, Zaire, and Angola. Before entering the BVE, he had worked as a translator with the Spanish General Security Directorate. Pervins, who spoke five languages, had a reputation as an accomplished hitman. He was arrested following an attempt to assassinate ETA leader Eugenio Echeveste in March 1981 and died in prison the following year. ? Jean Pierre Cherid, now deceased, born in Toulouse, France. A paratrooper sergeant during France's Algerian war, he later joined the rightwing terrorist Secret Army Organization (OAS). Condemned by France to 30 years in prison for these activities, Cherid escaped to Barcelona, where he collaborated with the Franco regime. Cherid was killed on 19 March 1984 by a bomb that exploded prematurely. ~ Self-proclaimed antiterrorist groups similar to GAL-the Anti- ETA Terrorism, the Anti-Communist Apostolic Alliance, and the Spanish Basque Battalion-appeared in Spain as early as 1975. But GAL's counterterrorist efforts have been larger in scope and have had greater impact in both Spain and France than any of the earlier Secret G! TR 85-017 26 August 1985 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 i u .. ..... ._ _ . ... _..,~.. a... .. .. , ... i . . Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret ? Jose Maria Boccardo Roman, 29, the son of an Argentine military dentist. He was forced to leave Argentina in 1975 because of his involvement with the murderous rightwing group Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (AAA). year later by the Spanish police for transporting illegal weapons. In March 1977, According to the Cambio 16 article, GAL originally had two components-one directed by a French gangster, Gilbert Perret, and the other by Jean Pierre Cherid and an Italian ultrarightist, Mario Vannoli. The Cherid/Vannoli group furnished the explosives experts, and the Perret group-mostly common criminals from the Marseilles and Bordeaux underworld-the triggermen. The article asserts that the two groups of gunmen have operated for the past eight years. In the late 1970s, during the time of the Central Democratic Union government, the attacks were claimed in the name of the Spanish Basque Battalion, but now they are claimed in the name of the Antiterrorist Liberation Group. After GAL's initial successes against ETA, the group began to run into difficulties. The Cambio 16 article stated that unidentified members of GAL revealed to reporters that Jean Pierre Cherid's death was a turning point for the group. Cherid apparently had provided GAL with a central leadership, although several semiautonomous operational commands had operated in the French Basque country. Each command was provided with a list of 10 to 20 terrorists within a designated territory whom they were to track down and eliminate. After Cherid's death, however, GAL attackers apparently began killing persons not on the lists and not necessarily involved with ETA. In November 1984, for example, GAL gunmen assassinated Dr. Santi Brouard, who- although aleading member of Herri Batasuna (Popular Unity), the political arm of ETA-M-was not personally involved in terrorism. Since 1983, French police have captured numerous GAL operators including: ? A former master sergeant in the Spanish Foreign Legion was arrested for involvement in the kidnaping of a Spanish Basque businessman in Hendaye, France (December 1983). ? Five suspected GAL operators were arrested. One was described as a runner of contraband. The others were caught after an unidentified Spanish industrialist allegedly paid them to assassinate a Spanish Basque (March 1984). ? Ten gangsters suspected of working for GAL were arrested in a coordinated police sweep in Bordeaux, Bayonne, and Paris' (April 1984). ? Police arrested four alleged underworld figures suspected of participating in GAL operations (June 1984). ? Two suspected GAL operators-one French and one Spanish-were arrested in Biarritz. They were each sentenced by a French court to serve five years in prison for illegal possession of weapons and planning an armed attack (September 1984). Press Speculation and Government Response Since GAL's appearance, ETA supporters have charged that the Spanish Government was behind the group. In the Basque provinces, suspicion that Madrid might be involved with GAL runs deep. As early as 1983, EI Pais, the country's most influential daily, documents, including pictures of potential GAL victims. Eight of the arrested were indicted for belonging to a criminal association and imprisoned. However, on 15 May their release was ordered by an Appeals Court at Pau, which cited procedural irregularities- stating police had acted in "bad faith" by releasing one of those initially arrested in order to follow him and pick up other members 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret solemnly warned the government against pursuing a "dirty war" against ETA. Newsmen in France and Spain, however, only began seriously checking ETA's claims following three GAL armed attacks in March 1985 that left three Spanish Basques dead and five wounded. The press findings appeared to support ETA's allegations. Spanish journalists discovered that the Interior Ministry had granted a pension to the family of a GAL member who died while working on a bomb, while the French press reported that French police had traced the license plate of a car used in a rendezvous with a suspected GAL member back to the Spanish police. The Gonzalez government has taken a hard line in the face of press allegations of official complicity. Interior Ministry spokesmen stated that the bomb victim's family was compensated for undercover work he had performed before the Socialists took office. Spanish officials also refuted the second story, claiming that the license plate identified by the French was no longer in use when it was sighted. In addition, earlier this year, when a Spanish newspaper publicized a disgruntled former prosecutor's charges that the government was withholding information about certain GAL operations, the Spanish Interior Minister responded by suing the paper for libel. Several other incidents, however, had earlier fueled press speculation about aGAL-Spanish Government connection. In April 1984, a convicted counterfeiter, whom France was trying to extradite for anti-ETA activity, was granted a weekend leave from prison and never returned. The following month, a Spanish court suspended for three years a leading police official who refused to cooperate in the investigation of a 1980 antiterrorist operation. Although this operation preceded GAL's emergence, the press has linked it to a long history of extralegal counterterrorist operations by the Spanish Government. The GAL Issue in Spain Thus far, the Spanish Government has suffered little domestic political damage from press speculations about GAL's links to the government. Neither President Gonzalez nor any high-ranking official has been tied directly to the GAL's operations. The public, moreover, remains ambivalent on the issue. Most Spaniards, inured to the stormy complex politics and attendant bloodletting that characterize life in the Basque provinces, barely noticed the emergence of yet another violent group there. Few non-Basques have been inclined to dispute Gonzalez's public analysis of GAL. Although they declare the violence is deplorable, most non-Basques view the emergence of GAL as a logical response to ETA's use of violence. Many citizens may actually enjoy the sight of ETA members as terrorist victims. According to a recent press poll, more than 75 percent even among Spain's Basques think ETA should immediately lay down its arms and 45 percent feel ETA no longer has a reason to exist. Impact on France After the October 1982 Spanish election returned a Socialist government to power, France began to reexamine its longstanding unwillingness to deal with fugitive ETA members. Even before GAL emerged, French police officials had increased cooperation with their Spanish counterparts and made plans for a crackdown on ETA. The arrival of GAL appeared to stimulate this process. The French also moved against GAL itself. Following the removals, expulsions, and extraditions of ETA members from France in 1984, French police in April 1985 arrested GAL operatives and, for the first time, a French court sentenced two others to prison terms. Three months later, several French civil rights organizations attacked GAL, urging French and Spanish authorities to assure the security of French national territory. However, any suspicions that Paris may have had concerning links between GAL and the Spanish Government did not deter Paris from signing a public pledge of friendship and cooperation with Madrid in July 1985. The agreement called for regular meetings of government chiefs and greater cooperation against terrorism, drug smuggling, and other forms of cross-border crimes. Prospects A continuation of high-visibility attacks by the Spanish Basque terrorists may lead to a resurgence of anti-ETA attacks by those operating in the name of GAL. Despite the pressure from GAL and 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 u __ _ .. i Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret counterterrorist successes by the Spanish and French Governments, ETA violence has continued. Since October 1984, ETA has conducted over 100 terrorist attacks, although the terrorists' increased problems have meant that these attacks were carried out with less preparation and against softer targets than previous attacks. Indeed, in May 1985 ETA launched a new two-front campaign to demonstrate its continued viability, in order, we believe, to boost the morale of the beleagured ETA members themselves and persuade the government to ease up somewhat in its demands for the virtual unconditional surrender of the ETA. One part of the ETA campaign-bombings along Spain's Costa del Sol directed against the Spanish tourist industry-has continued throughout the summer of 1985. The other more vicious ETA campaign has been directed mainly against Spanish policemen. In the three-month period June-August 1985, the group has killed 25 people and wounded another two dozen. Continued GAL activities in France could at least temporarily reduce France's willingness to cooperate with Spain against ETA- especially if evidence confirms links between GAL and high-ranking Spanish officials. This, in turn, could help revive public sympathy for ETA in the Basque provinces. Public opinion remains volatile, despite the introduction of home rule and ETA's own continuing terror, which has led many Basques to oppose violence as a means of achieving greater autonomy. 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret Chronology of Claimed or Suspected Attacks by GAL Since December 1983 Hendaye, France. Kidnaping of a Spanish businessman. Claimed by GAL. 19 December Bayonne, France. Assassination of a reputed ETA-M member. Claimed by GAL. 28 December Saint-Jean-De-Luz, France. Assassination of an ETA member. Claimed by GAL. 1984 8 February Hendaye, France. Assassination of two ETA-M members. Claimed by GAL. 25 February Mendy in Pyrenees-At[antiques, France. Assassination of ETA-M leader Eugenio Gutierrez Salazar. Claimed by GAL. 1 March Hendaye, France. Assassination of a French railroad worker. GAL suspected. 23 March 3 May 15 June 10 July 9 August 13 August 18 November 20 November Biarritz, France. Assassination of a Spanish Basque refugee, the brother-in-law of an ETA-M leader. Claimed by GAL. Saint Martin-DArossa, France. Armed attack on two ETA-M members, one of whom died. Claimed by GAL. Biarritz, France. Remote-controlled car bombing at a bar frequented by Basque refugees. Two Basques were seriously burned and five others wounded. Claimed by GAL. Saint-Jean-De-Luz, France. Bombing of a bar frequented by Spanish Basques. Three Basque patrons were injured. Claimed by GAL. Saint Martin DArossa, France. Arson attack on a furniture company. GAL suspected. Bayonne, France. Arson attack against a company with alleged links to ETA. GAL suspected. Biriatou, France. Assassination of a French Basque leader. Victim's brother was also wounded. Claimed by GAL. Bilbao, Spain. Assassination of Herri Batasuna leader Dr. Santi Brouard. Claimed by GAL. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 . , i u . ?. ._ .. ...._ ....1_..i.. a... .. _ ...._. ... ....L 1. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 11 December Hendaye, France. Car bomb injures an unintended victim. Claimed by GAL. 1985 1 February Bayonne, France. Remote-controlled car bomb injures a Basque activist. GAL suspected. 4 March Bayonne, France. Armed attack on a bar. Two Spanish Basques were wounded. GAL suspected. 29 March 30 March 14 June 26 June 2 August Saint-Jean-De-Luz, France. Gun and grenade attack on a bar. Two Spanish Basques and several bystanders were wounded. The bar premises were heavily damaged. Claimed by GAL. Bayonne, France. Armed attack on a cafe. One Spanish Basque was killed and three others wounded. Claimed by GAL. Saint-Jean-De-Luz, France. Assassination of a photographer employed by a Spanish Basque newspaper. Claimed by GAL. Ciboure, France. Gun and grenade attack on a bar. Two patrons-allegedly non- Basque-were killed. Claimed by GAL. Bayonne, France Assassination of a Spanish Basque who had recently requested refugee status from France. GAL suspected. Saint Jean Pied de Port, France. Assassination of ETA member Juan Maria Otegui. Claimed by GAL. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Q Next 3 Page(s) In Document Denied Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret Terrorism in Europe: 1984/85 (Part II) Terrorism From the Middle East The third major source of terrorism in Europe is the massive spillover from the issues and antagonists of the Middle East. Some 62 terrorist attacks involving Middle Easterners occurred in European countries in 1984, and a similarly active pace has prevailed so far in 1985. Common targets have been diplomats and diplomatic facilities, especially those of moderate states like Jordan, and officials of various Palestinian groups. Most of these attacks have been blamed on Palestinian terrorists, who often act at the behest of some Middle Eastern governments. In addition, emigre opponents of certain Middle Eastern regimes also suffered numerous attacks. Below are a number of examples demonstrating the nature and range of Middle Eastern terrorist activity in Europe. The Libyan Vendetta. In 1984, seven anti-Qadhafi Libyan expatriates were murdered and two others were wounded, along with dozens of European bystanders, by Libyan agents in at least 16 terrorist incidents in various West European countries. One striking indication of how far the Libyans would go to intimidate and punish expatriate opponents of the Qadhafi regime occurred on 17 April 1984 in London, when a British policewoman was killed and 11 anti- Qadhafi protesters were wounded by gunfire emanating from the Libyan People's Bureau. This incident, along with a bombing at Heathrow Airport the next day that wounded 25, finally caused the United Kingdom to break diplomatic relations with ,Libya and expel its diplomats. Such Libyan behavior has continued in 1985, albeit at a somewhat reduced level. In April, for example, a Libyan dissident was murdered in West Germany. The West German Government subsequently expelled three Libyan diplomats implicated in the crime. The Ladispoli Seven. In November 1984 Swiss customs authorities arrested a young Arab in possession of a kilogram of explosives, four blasting caps, and documents indicatin his final destination was Italy. 25X1 police in Italy arrested seven pro-Iranian 25X1 Lebanese students living in Ladispoli, on the outskirts of Rome. In the group's apartment police found diagrams and casing reports of the US Embassy in Rome. The Swiss later deported their suspect to Lebanon, while the Italians released two of the seven they had arrested, having been unable to link them to apparent plans by the other five to attack the Embassy. The Italians plan to try the five remaining students on terrorism charges, despite numerous threats of violent retaliation from radical Lebanese Shias. The New Black September. Beginning in November 1984, Jordanian personnel and facilities in Europe have been confronted by terrorists using the name of a group long thought defunct: ? On 29 November 1984, a Jordanian diplomat in Athens was accosted by a terrorist who tried to shoot him, but failed when his gun jammed. ? On 4 December in Bucharest, the deputy chief of the Jordanian mission was murdered by an assailant. ? On 21 March 1985, grenades were lobbed almost simultaneously at the ticket offices of Alia, the Jordanian national airline, in Nicosia, Athens, and Rome. ? On 3 April in Rome, a rocket was fired at the Jordanian Embassy. 25X1 25X1 ? On 4 April outside Athens, a rocket was fired at an 25X1 Alia aircraft as it was beginning to take off; the rocket penetrated the fuselage but failed to explode. Secret GI TR 85-017 26 August 1985 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret On 6 August 1984, Italian police in Trieste unknowingly achieved one oJ'the most significant counterterrorism successes ojthe year when they arrested a young Arab male trying to enter Italy aboard the Orient Expresslrom Yugoslavia. He carried a false Moroccan passport in the name of Abdallah Mohammad al-Mansuri, train tickets to Paris, and some 8 kilograms oJ'the Czechoslovak- made plastic explosive Semtex-H. Subsequent police investigations established that "Mansuri "was a member of'the Lebanese Armed Revolutionary Faction (LARF). The arrest constituted the,first break in the international eJJ`ort to combat this shadowy international terrorist group-one of the most lethal organizations operating against US and Israeli targets in Western Europe. Between 1981 and 1984, the LARF was responsible for at least six attacks against US and Israeli diplomats in France, in which Jour persons were killed and Jour wounded. The group claimed credit Jor the February 1984 assassination in Rome of US citizen Leamon Hunt, Director General of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai-an act for which the Red Brigades also claimed credit. the French police arrested a second member of the LARF, George Ibrahim Abdallah-subsequently identified as the leader of the group. Soon theregf'ter, other members of the LARF apparently.fled Europe and returned to their native Lebanon. In December, however, Italian police apprehended a third LARF member, Josephine Abdu, as she was transiting the Rome airport en route to Madrid. Police suspect she was traveling through Europe closing LARF scslehouses and disposing of evidence that would link specific members ojthe group to their past terrorist operations. On the basis oJevidence developed by the French and Italian investigators, it has been established that most oJthe members of'the LARF comeJrom two small villages, Qubayyat and Andagat, in Syrian- controlled northern Lebanon. Although they are Lebanese Christians, they adhere to a Marxist- Leninist ideology. Some oj'the group s senior members were originally associated with the Popular Front Jor the Liberation oJPalestine (PFLP), whose leader, George Habbash, is also aChristian-albeit a Palestinian. It is probable that the LARF maintains contacts with PFLP terrorist splinter groups such as the PFLP-Special Command. There have also been some indications of ties between the LARF and certain West European terrorist groups, notably Action Directe and the Red Brigades. Although Action Directe is a French group, it has a multinational membership and afew ojits members may have participated in LARF operations in 1982. It is also possible that, although both the Red Brigades and the LARF claimed credit as individual groups for murdering MFO chieJHunt in Rome, it was actually a joint operation-or at least an operation involving members of both groups. LARF Threats Unavailing. In response to the arrests ojtheir comrades, the remaining members threatened "bloody reprisals" against Italy and France if'the three `armed strugglers" were not released. On 23 March 1985, LARF operatives kidnaped the director ojthe French Cultural Center in Tripoli, Lebanon, intending to swap him.lor Abdallah. Through intermediaries, an understanding was apparently reached between the terrorists and the French Government, which had been considering releasing Abdallah Jor lack of evidence anyway. On 1 April the LARF released its captive. The same day, however, the French police located a LARF cache in Paris that contained evidence linking Abdallah to several terrorist attacks. Under these circumstances, releasing him was out o,1'the question. Abdallah has been charged with complicity in the 1982 murders in Paris of US assistant defense attache Lt. Col. Charles Ray and Israeli diplomat Yaacov Bar Simantov. Meanwhile, despite the threats against them, the Italians brought Mansuri and Abdu to trial in May. They were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms. 25X1 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret ? On 1 July in Madrid, three terrorists (two men and a woman in an Arab dress) tossed a grenade into the Alia office (it failed to explode) and sprayed it with a submachinegun. The same attackers probably were also responsible for a bomb placed slightly earlier at the nearby British Airways office. The bomb exploded, destroying the office, killing one person (a Spaniard), and wounding 24 others (including an American), who happened to be in the vicinity. Anonymous spokesmen for a group calling itself Black September claimed credit for all the anti-Jordanian incidents, while a spokesman for the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims (ROSM) claimed credit for the attack against the British Airways office. It is probable, however, that the infamous Abu Nidal Group was actually responsible. The original Black September was a covert component of the Palestinian group Fatah more than a decade ago, but Fatah is not believed to have been connected with these latest attacks.Z ' The name Black September commemorates the month in 1970 when Jordanian forces attacked the Palestinian forces based in Jordan in an ultimately successful effort to drive them out of the country. Fatah, the largest Palestinian group, originated the name as a means of claiming credit for its retaliatory terrorist attacks against Jordanian Government targets and other perceived enemies of the Palestinian cause. The massacre of the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics was among the most notorious attacks of this group. It was disbanded in 1974, however, after Fatah leader Yasir Arafat, bowing to pressure from Saudi Arabia and other quarters, declared that Fatah and the rest of the PLO would no Although currently based in Syria and in Syrian- controlled Lebanese territory, the Abu Nidal Group is believed to be a semiindependent actor in the Middle Eastern theater. The most accomplished and lethal arm of the Palestinian terrorist groups, it has a long record of attacking officials of moderate Arab governments (and Palestinian groups) and has mounted attacks in more than 25 countries. The Abu Nidal group is believed to use the name ROSM to claim credit for attacks against British interests-in an attempt to extort the release from UK prisons of several Abu Nidal operatives convicted of trying to murder the Israeli Ambassador there a few years ago-and to use the name Black September to claim credit for attacks against Jordanian interests. The operation in Madrid enabled the Abu Nidal Group to claim credit in both names at once. 25X1 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret Chronology of Terrorism-1985 Below are described noteworthyloreign and international events involving terrorists, or the use of'terrorist tactics, which have occurred or come to light since our last issue. In some cases, the perpetrators and their motivations may not be known. Events and developments that have already been described elsewhere in this publication are not included. Northern Ireland: Guerrillas./ire mortar shells at British Army base near border with Irish Republic. No injuries were reported. The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility for the attack. Angola: UNITA bomb attack kills two Cubans in Lubango. In a communique, the Union for the Total Independence of Angola claimed credit for planting the bomb in Huila Province. UNITA also claimed to have destroyed a war material depot in the same explosion. ~~ attack. West Germany: Three Iranian monarchists attacked in West Berlin by 15 apparent supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini. One of the three died shortly after the early August. Sudan: Libyan intelligence o,,~icer declared persona non grata for subversive activity. Muhammad Ali al-Nayeli, who was responsible for liaison with the local Libyan-backed revolutionary committees, was ordered to leave the country by effect their release. Mozambique: RENAMO kidnaps two Italian monks in Luabo. The Capuchin Order is pursuing informal contacts with the National Resistance Movement to responsibility. Northern Ireland: 200-kilogram car bomb wrecks shopping center in Ballynahinch, County Down. Five persons were injured. No group has claimed Northern Ireland: Hotel in Dunmurry severely damaged by 150-kilogram bomb. No injuries were reported and no group has taken credit for the attack.~~ 25X1 South ~jrica: New London shootout claims one police o.,~cer, two terrorists. A large cache of Russian-made weapons, allegedly intended for use against the main power station, was also seized. Ciskei police reportedly arrested several other suspects. 21 Secret GI TR 85-0/7 26 August 1985 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret release. Mozambique: RENAMO kidnaps British citizen and Irish national in raid on Luabo sugar refinery. The National Resistance Movement has specified that direct negotiations with their respective governments are a condition for their 31 July, 2 August Portugal: Suspected FP-25 members arrested in Coimbra and Porto. One of the two arrested in Coimbra is believed to be a leading member of the Autonomous Revolutionary Group (GAR), which police believe is a faction of FP-25. taken credit for this attack, the Basque group ETA is believed responsible. Spain: Bomb injures two Swedes in Benidorm. The bomb-the first to cause injury in a rash of such bombings in resort areas this summer-exploded outside a telephone booth in which two Swedish citizens were standing. Although no one has near a grocery store in East Talpiyot. West Bank: Bomb defused in Jerusalem. An ex-policeman discovered the explosive Mxenge, who was murdered in 1981. South Africa: Prominent civil rights attorney Victoria Mzenge slain in Umlaz. The United Democratic Front blamed the South African Government. The victim was an African National Congress activist and widow of radical attorney Griffiths of Vice Admiral Fausto Escrigas Estrada on 29 July. France: Antiterrorist Liberation Group (GAL) claims killing of ETA member in St. Jean Pied de Port. The murder was probably in retaliation for ETA's murder several suicide attacks against Israeli forces in the security zone. Lebanon: Israeli planes bomb SSNP camp near Shtawrah, killing 1 S persons and wounding 20. The Syrian Social Nationalist Party has claimed responsibility for responsibility. Lebanon: 100-kilogram bomb at Christian Phalange Party o,~ices in Juniyah causes heavy damage but no casualties. The blast was caused by an explosive placed under a car parked in front of the office. No one has so far claimed trained dogs after an anonymous telephone warning. Honduras: Two bombs deactivated in Tegucigalpa hotel often used by US military and diplomatic personnel. The powerful explosives were detected by specially 3 August Spain: Civil Guardsman killed while trying to deactivate bomb in Luyendo bar. ETA-M claimed credit for planting the device. Plana. Twenty cars were also damaged in the explosion. Spain: ETA-M suspected of bombing that destroyed restaurant in Castellon de la 25X1 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret 4 August Spain: Retired Civil Guardsman shot and killed in Elgiobar. ETA-M claimed credit for the attack. ~~ Spain: Bomb damages restaurant in Salamanca. The bomb caused no casualties and was not claimed by any group, although ETA-M is suspected. ~~ 25X1 Israel: Bomb defused in Hadera. Several sticks of dynamite were discovered in a bag at a pickup station for hitchhiking soldiers. 0 25X1 South Africa: ANC suspected in bombing of Member of Parliament's house. The legislator, of Indian descent, who was uninjured in the attack, had publicly expressed approval of the government's emergency declaration. 6 August Northern Ireland: Homemade rocket detonates prematurely in Londonderry, killing one suspected IRA terrorist and seriously wounding another. An armored police vehicle driving through the town was probably the intended target Lebanon: "Donkey bomber"attacks South Lebanese Army headquarters in Hasbaya. Two baskets containing 100 kilos of TNT exploded, killing the rider and injuring a bystander. The Communist Lebanese National Resistance Front, which has claimed credit for most of the attacks against Israeli and SLA forces in south Lebanon, took responsibility. Lebanon: Two embassy bombings injure one child. Two charges exploded in downtown West Beirut, the first near the abandoned Saudi Arabian Embassy and the second near the Moroccan Embassy. No group has claimed responsibility for 7 August The Libyan Government has denied any involvement. Egypt: Security o.,6icials foil Libyan-sponsored plot to kill Libyan exile living in Alexandria. Two Egyptians-reportedly controlled by two Libyan intelligence agents-went to Alexandria in May and contacted criminals to help them in the assassination attempt; they were arrested with three others while attempting to murder Ghayth Said al-Mabruk. The two Libyans have been sentenced to death. West Beirut four days earlier. Lebanon: Lebanese manager ofABC Television released unharmed. He was reportedly rescued by Druze militiamen of Transport Minister Walid Jumblatt's Progressive Socialist Party. He had been kidnaped by unidentified gunmen in Lebanon: Rocket fired at former Prime Minister Sayib Salam's home in West Beirut. An unidentified caller claimed the rocket-which hit a car but caused no injuries-was a warning connected with recent political statements made by Those bombings killed 86 in New Delhi and three northern Indian states. India: New Delhi police charge 58 for involvement in Sikh bombings on 10 May. 23 Secret Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 ~ u . ~. ... ._._ ~....~....~.... __ ..... ._ ..... . , . Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 several bombings in Jakarta's Chinatown last October that killed two people. Indonesia: Muslim terrorist sentenced to life by Jakarta court. Mohammad Tasrif, a Muslim religious teacher, had been convicted for his role in organizing suspects. West Germany: Unidentified terrorists interrupted by janitor while attempting to set fire to Amerika Haus in Hamburg. The janitor was injured by the two Lebanon: Four dead in Israeli attack in Bekaa Valley. Israeli Defense Force planes bombed a camp of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command near Barr Ilyas. It was the ninth such attack against Palestinian camps in Lebanon this year. 0 southern Lebanon, however, denied any knowledge of the kidnaping. Lebanon: Canadian head of Mennonite Church's agricultural development project abducted in south Lebanon. His two kidnapers-who identified themselves as members of the Amal Militia-released him 14 hours later. Amal leaders in Consul, who is also a prominent banker and businessman in Guayaquil. Ecuador: Dominican Republic Consul kidnaped in Guayaquil. The Colombian M-19 (19 April Movement) has claimed credit for the abduction of the Dominican Movement ambushes in late June. Mozambique: RENAMO kills I5, wounds 42 in attack on passenger buses. The attack occurred in Gaza Province near the site of two National Resistance Imphal. Separatist tribal groups are suspected. India: Former state minister killed in Manipur. Three unidentified gunmen shot former state Finance Minister Z. Solomon at his home in the state capital of 9 August West Bank: Policeman's home firebombed in Balta refugee camp near Nabu/us. There was minor damage, but no injuries were reported. 10 August Lebanon: Kidnaped Kuwaiti press attache released. Wajid Dumani, abducted by unidentified gunmen in West Beirut on 11 July, refused to identify his captors. He thanked prominent Shia officials, including Hizballah cleric Shaykh Muhamad Husayn Fadlallah, for arranging his release. I1 August Portugal: Key prosecution witness in FP-25 trial dies from wounds received in earlier murder attempt against him. Portuguese legal experts believe the witness's death may undermine the case against the 76 suspected FP-25 members, whose trial reconvenes in October. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret 12 August has claimed responsibility for the explosion. West Germany: Letter bomb wounds Iranian Embassy sta,6`er in Bonn. No group Lebanon: Christian passengers en route to airportJrom East Beirut detained by Shia gunmen. The kidnapers demanded and obtained the release of a Shia abducted en route to East Beirut the day before. West Bank: Israeli settler stabbed by two Arab youths in Hebron. A curfew was imposed when the incident threatened to set off anti-Arab rioting in the city. The Palestinian Revolution Forces General Command has claimed responsibility for Israel: Five Jewish Underground terrorists ask.for amnesty. The requests were submitted to President Herzog, who has been under popular pressure to grant amnesty for the group convicted of terrorist attacks against Arabs. and Financial Associations, an organization that represents Guatemala's private business sector, was shot by unidentified assassins while riding in his automobile. Guatemala: Agricultural association president killed in Guatemala City. The director of the Coordinating Committee of Agricultural, Commercial, Industrial, West Germany: Incendiary devices discovered in Frankfurt on US Berlin- Frankfurt duty train. Two anonymous letters claimed the aborted attack was a "contribution to the fight against the NATO infrastructure." Sri Lanka: Seven-kilogram bomb defused in Colombo railway station. The gelignite bomb, found on an early morning train from Jaffna, was set to explode during the morning commuter rush. Tamil separatists are probably responsible.0 25X1 Nepal: Tough antiterrorism law enacted. The Terrorist Offenses Act of 1985, which makes "terrorist crimes" punishable by death, came in the wake of a series of bomb blasts in Kathmandu and other towns that killed eight persons on 21 and Thailand: Bomb explodes outside Israeli Embassy compound in Bangkok, causing slight damage. No group has claimed responsibility. ~~ 25X1 paralyzed rail traffic. Chile: Security o,,6`icer killed defusing bomb on rail line near Valparaiso. A second officer was injured in the explosion, which destroyed the rails and 14 August Lebanon: Large car bomb explodes in East Beirut residential area. Initial reports indicate 12 people were killed and 120 injured. No group has claimed credit. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 u _ .. ... . ~ . _ .... ._ .. .... Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret been no claims of responsibility. Pakistan: Two bomb blasts shake town on AfShan border. Fifteen persons were killed and 48 were wounded when a bus and a marketplace were destroyed in the most lethal such incident since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. There have 17 August Spain: ETA claims murder of restaurant owner in Castellon de la Plana. The victim was allegedly connected to the rightwing Antiterrorist Liberation Group. Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 _. ...... w .~ .. 11 ~ ...~. .~.._..... ,~ _. __~....L._.__J_~..1._.._____.,..._._,.._.___._ _~.. ~._._.~,._.1._~..~..._...._. _~ Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3 Secret Secret Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/07/28 :CIA-RDP87T00685R000200210002-3