Reward Is Planned in Agency Bombing; Odeh Funeral Today

As leaders of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee prepared to bury their executive director and offer a reward for information in the bombing that killed him, police Monday said that days of scouring the wreckage of the group’s Santa Ana offices had turned up few immediate clues.

“The focus of our investigation is the physical evidence which has been collected at the scene,” Santa Ana Police Department spokeswoman Maureen Thomas said Monday. Asked if there was any significant evidence that would point investigators to a suspect, Thomas said: “There’s nothing really solid, no.”

$100,000 Reward Expected

James Kaddo, an official with the American-Arab Committee, said at a Los Angeles press conference Monday that a reward fund would be set up for the apprehension of those responsible for the bombing. He said he expected the reward to be as much as $100,000.

Kaddo said the group had received no communications from anyone claiming responsibility for the explosion that killed Alex M. Odeh, 41. He will be buried today at 11:30 a.m. at Holy Selpucher Cemetery in the City of Orange, committee officials announced.

Thomas said particles of an “explosive device” removed from committee offices on the second floor of a three-story building at 1905 East 17th St. were sent to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department crime lab.

The particles later will be examined by FBI crime lab technicians in Washington, she said. Fingerprints also are being examined, she said.

Thomas said investigators have not yet identified the type of bomb that exploded at 9:11 a.m. Friday, killing Odeh and causing minor injuries to seven other people. But she did rule out news reports that a booby-trapped package was mailed or delivered to the office.

“That is not true,” Thomas said. “There’s no evidence of a package or a person delivering a package to that office. We want to clear that up right now.”

Three investigators from agencies investigating the bombing have said they believe the device went off as Odeh entered the committee office, indicating that it was either timed or rigged to explode as Odeh opened the door.

Earl L. Gross, part owner of the building, said marks indicate that the bomb was placed just inside the door. He said when he arrived at the office “about three minutes” after the blast, Odeh was lying in the hallway. Odeh was rushed to Western Medical Center, where a hospital spokesman said he suffered severe injuries to his lower body and died at 11:24 a.m. while undergoing surgery.

Two Santa Ana police homicide investigators have been assigned to the case, Thomas said. They are being assisted by the FBI, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Los Angeles Police Department’s anti-terrorist division.

The FBI is conducting a separate investigation to determine if a terrorist group is involved, bureau spokesman John Hoos said.

Gross said there was no structural damage to the building and that damage to the contents and interior was “$100,000, tops.”

One investigator said the building’s concrete floors and walls magnified the explosion.

So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing. Odeh’s family and associates say they believe the blast may have been linked to remarks Odeh made on television newscasts the night before in which he expressed sympathy for the Palestine Liberation Organization and called it’s leader, Yasser Arafat, “a man of peace.”

However, David Habib, president of the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the committee, said at the press conference that there was no direct link between Odeh’s TV appearances and his death.

“These (explanations) are smoke-screens,” he said. “The murder . . . is just the most recent and heinous in a series of acts of terror and intimidation against Americans of ethnic origin,” he said. The acts, he said, “have as their purpose a concerted attempt to silence our community on issues of major significance.”

On Aug. 16, a 12-inch pipe bomb, rigged with an egg timer, exploded in front of a Boston building, which housed an office of the American-Arab Committee. John Barry of the Boston Police Department said particles taken from the scene of the Santa Ana bombing probably will be compared to pieces of the Boston pipe bomb. “That would be routine,” he added. But Barry cautioned that no obvious similarities between the two incidents have been found.