Bombs Destroy U.S. Radar Equipment in W. Germany

Three bomb blasts destroyed radar equipment early today at a U.S. Army anti-aircraft missile site near this West German town but caused no injuries, a U.S. military spokesman said.

West German officials said they believed supporters of the leftist Red Army Faction terrorist group were responsible for the attack.

“There were three blasts that destroyed three mobile radar sets mounted on trailers,” said Sgt. Bob Lentner, a spokesman for the U.S. Army in Heidelberg. “It is an enclosed site.”

He said the attack took place at about 6 a.m.

None of the surface-to-air Hawk anti-aircraft missiles on the site were damaged, Lentner said. The site does not contain any Pershing 2 nuclear missiles being deployed by NATO in Western Europe, he said.

The attackers gained access to the base by cutting through the chain-link perimeter fence in two places. The base is manned by about 100 U.S. military personnel of the 32nd Army Air Defense Command.

Alexander Prechtel, a spokesman for the chief West German prosecutor’s office, estimated that the blasts caused damage in the “millions of marks,” which converts to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He said investigators suspected that supporters of the Red Army Faction terrorist group, which is being investigated in connection with four attacks or attempted attacks in the last month against the U.S. military in West Germany, planted the bombs.