Reagan Directs U.S. Agencies to Join Probe

President Reagan ordered U.S. agencies to take part in an investigation into the bomb blast Wednesday that killed four passengers, apparently all Americans, on a TWA flight to Athens, his aides said.

“It is highly probable that the situation that occurred does involve violation of United States law, and so it is appropriate that we provide investigative resources,” Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said in a television interview.

In Santa Barbara, where Reagan is vacationing, White House spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters the President was notified of the explosion at 6:35 a.m. by Donald Fortier, an official of the National Security Council.

“The President directed U.S. authorities to cooperate in the investigation,” Speakes said.

The Justice Department, the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration were assigned to help Italian and Greek authorities investigate the bomb, which exploded in a piece of luggage on a Boeing 727 as it flew over southern Greece.

In Lebanon, an obscure Palestinian group called the Arab Revolutionary Cells claimed responsibility for the explosion. An anonymous caller telephoned the Associated Press office in Beirut and, speaking in Palestinian-accented Arabic, said the Ezzedine Kassam Unit of the Arab Revolutionary Cells planted the bomb aboard the plane in retaliation for last week’s U.S. military confrontation with Libya.

Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi had vowed terrorist revenge against the United States after his forces were bruised by the U.S. 6th Fleet in the Gulf of Sidra.

However, Kadafi quickly distanced himself from the bombing, saying, “This is an act of terrorism against a civilian target, and I am totally against this,” CBS Television reported.

In Tripoli, Libya, an employee of the official Libyan news agency asserted that the terrorist group had “nothing to do with us.”

The State Department had no immediate comment on the Beirut group’s claim of responsibility.

The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a prominent expert on terrorism--both speaking before the telephone call claiming responsibility--said they believed the bombing may have been related to Kadafi, but neither suggested he ordered the attack.

‘Make Us Look Impotent’

Terrorists may have set the bomb “to make us look impotent,” said Robert Kupperman, an expert on terrorism at the Georgetown University Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“My instincts tell me that this is related to the Gulf of Sidra matter,” said Kupperman. “In my mind, I see it as purely a retaliation.”

Rep. Dante Fascell (D-Fla.), the committee chairman, said that the incident, “coupled with the very real possibility of Libyan-inspired terrorist attacks following our recent freedom of navigation exercise in the Gulf of Sidra, underscores the need for prompt and effective action to combat the spread of international terrorism.”

Fascell said that the Foreign Affairs Committee is planning to review the bombing at hearings this month.

Committee 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.

Fascell said the hearings will focus on how effectively the Foreign Airport Security Act is being implemented. He said he hopes the FAA will have completed by then its survey of international airports to determine which fail to meet minimum safety standards.