Reagan Orders Probe of Terrorist Link to Jet Blast

President Reagan ordered an investigation of possible terrorist involvement in a bomb blast today that killed four people, including an American man, on a TWA flight from Rome to Athens.

By midday, no one had claimed responsibility for planting the bomb, which Greek authorities said exploded in a piece of luggage on a Boeing 727 as it flew at 11,000 feet over southern Greece.

Reagan ordered U.S. agents to work with Greek officials investigating the explosion, a spokesman said, and other officials said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Federal Aviation Administration had been assigned the task.

“The President directed U.S. authorities to cooperate in the investigation,” White House spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters in Santa Barbara, Calif., near where Reagan is vacationing.

Speakes said Reagan was notified of the explosion at 6:35 a.m. PST by a telephone call from Donald Fortier, an official of the National Security Council.

Asked whether the explosion was regarded as a terrorist attack, Speakes said, “We can’t make that judgment at this time.”

Investigators Checking

At the State Department, spokesman Bernard Kalb said FBI and FAA investigators are looking into the explosion.

Kalb declined to say specifically whether the State Department believes it is safe for Americans to travel in the region.

However, a travel alert was issued last week after U.S. naval exercises in the Gulf of Sidra off Libya led to clashes between the two countries and threats against Americans by Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi. Kalb said today: “I know of no dilution or change in that.”

Although the Congress was in recess, House investigators said they would review the explosion as a test case under anti-terrorist legislation passed last year that requires the government to review security at foreign airports.