Airport Attacks Get U.S. Condemnation, Call for Punishment

The Reagan Administration today condemned the terrorist attacks at the Rome and Vienna airports and expressed hope that those responsible will be caught and punished.

“We certainly deplore and condemn the violence. This underscores the need for nations to work together to put an end to terrorism,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes said.

At the State Department, deputy spokesman Charles Redman said: “We call upon all members of the world community to join us in combating forcefully these criminal acts and bringing to justice those responsible. There must be no place to hide for terrorists.”

Briefed Before Leaving

The President’s chief of staff, Donald T. Regan, told reporters that Reagan had been briefed by his National Security Council staff on the attacks before he left for a California vacation. “We are monitoring the situation,” Regan said.

An Italian Interior Ministry spokesman said the dead included two Americans. They were identified as Natasha Simpson, 11-year-old daughter of Victor Simpson, the Associated Press news editor in Rome, and John Buonocore, 20, of the U.S. military, no hometown available.

At Vatican City, Pope John Paul II deplored today’s deadly terrorist attack at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport as another act in “the barbaric war of violence” and called for renewed efforts to achieve peace.

“With deep sadness, I learned of this vicious attack that this morning caused death and suffering at Fiumicino airport,” the Pope said in a letter to Rome Cardinal Ugo Poletti. The airport is more commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci Airport.

‘Barbaric War of Violence’

“While I express my strongest condemnation for this act of blood that offends the human and Christian conscience, it is also a time to raise my voice to deplore the barbaric war of violence that disturbs the order of progress in social life.”

Italian Transport Minister Claudio Signorile said Leonardo Da Vinci Airport was as secure as it could be and security forces reacted promptly today. But he said it would be impossible to check everyone coming into the airport’s public areas because of the large numbers of people involved.

Italian Defense Minister Giovanni Spadolini noted that international terrorism has been escalating in recent months. He cited the hijacking by Palestinian guerrillas of the Italian liner Achille Lauro in October.

“The more the plan is developed for an international Middle East conference according to the line of Israeli Premier (Shimon) Peres, aimed at involving--rightly, in my view--the U.S.S.R. as well, the more ruthless becomes the terrorist grip,” he said.

‘Shameful and Criminal Act’

In Vienna, Austrian Chancellor Fred Sinowatz condemned “this shameful and criminal act of terror that was committed in a peace-loving country, which has advocated peace in all international forums.”

Egypt, the only Arab country to have diplomatic relations with Israel, rapidly condemned today’s attacks.

“Egypt condemns terrorist actions and considers them a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive peace, which is a principal goal of Egyptian diplomacy,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Butros Butros Ghali told reporters in Cairo.