Tunisian Says He Carried Out Terror Attacks

A Tunisian arrested after a quarrel with his girlfriend has admitted carrying out terrorist attacks, including store bombings in Paris and London that killed one person and injured 16, police sources said today.

Habib Maamar, 25, a native of Bizerte, Tunisia, was arrested Friday after his girlfriend went to police complaining that he had beaten her. Further investigation linked Maamar to terrorist activities, the sources said.

The sources, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said that in questioning overnight, Maamar admitted to the Feb. 23, 1985, bombing of the Marks & Spencer store in Paris, in which one person died and 14 were injured, and the December, 1983, bombing of the company’s London store, in which two people were slightly injured.

Contact in Baghdad

The sources said Maamar also furnished police with the name of his contact in Baghdad, Iraq, a man identified as Abu Ibrahim. According to the sources, Abu Ibrahim gave Maamar his orders and explosives.

Israeli and U.S. anti-terrorist sources identify Abu Ibrahim--code name for a man named Mohammed Amri--as leader of the Arab Organization of May 15, a maverick Palestinian guerrilla group named for the date of the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Abu Ibrahim’s 50 to 75 activist followers have carried out dozens of terrorist attacks or attempted attacks on Jewish, Israeli and Arab targets in the Middle East and Europe.

Bank and El Al Counter

The French police said Maamar also acknowledged responsibility for the Aug. 21, 1984, bombing attack of the Israeli Leumi Bank in Paris, which caused only material damage, as well as an attempt on an El Al counter in London. The sources gave no date or other details on the El Al affair.

The sources said several other people are being interrogated in the case, including Maamar’s Algerian girlfriend and a French woman.

In the Paris Marks & Spencer bombing, the explosion occurred near the rear entrance of the store, a British chain specializing in clothes and food. An employee died about five hours after being injured.

Maamar has lived illegally in the Nancy region for several years, the sources said.