Blast in W. Berlin Club Kills 2, Injures 80 : Many of Victims at Disco Believed to Be American Servicemen

A bomb went off in a discotheque in West Berlin early this morning, killing at least two people and injuring as many as 80 others, most of them believed to be Americans, the Defense Department said.

The disco, called La Belle, is frequented by American GIs, Pentagon officials said. But they emphasized that they had only preliminary information on the bombing and could not be certain if the dead were military personnel, although they had been told that at least 50 of the 80 injured were Americans.

Police in Berlin told reporters that at least 150 people were wounded.

The bomb went off at 1:50 a.m. West German time, officials said. At least 500 people were in the disco, Berlin police said. At least 30 people were treated in hospitals for severe injuries, a police spokesman told the Associated Press.

Defense Department officials here had no reports on what kind of bomb it was or who might have set it off.

The explosion came in a city where U.S. intelligence had reported threats by Libyan-directed or -influenced groups during the past week. Washington officials said the governments of East and West Germany had been alerted to the possibility of terrorist activities in Berlin.

Libyan Agents Active

The German city is among several in Europe where Libyan agents are said to have been active in recent weeks. If an investigation of the bombing suggests Libyan involvement--as some U.S. sources expect--the Reagan Administration would be confrointed with a clear-cut question of taking action against the source of the terrorism.

The bombing came shortly after American diplomats and diplomatic facilities in Western Europe and the Middle East were placed on an unusually high state of alert.

“Our people are on tiptoe and may have to be for months to come,” a senior U.S. official said earlier Saturday about security precautions being taken abroad. He said foreign governments in Europe and the Middle East have been asked to cooperate by stepping up their intelligence and security around potential U.S. targets.

Such increased alertness has apparently paid off in France. According to a U.S. source, the French have expelled four people--an Algerian, a Tunisian and two Lebanese--on suspicion of planning an attack on an American consular building in Paris.

Officials said that reports reaching Washington in recent weeks indicated that Libya was asking its allies and agents abroad to take action against U.S. targets in retaliation for what Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi has charged is a U.S. campaign against him.

Concern within the Administration focused in particular on reports of Libyan-sponsored surveillance of U.S. government and commercial facilities and officials.