2 Die in Explosion in Portugal Amid Wave of Bombings

Two people were killed in an apartment building explosion here Monday as a wave of bombings by suspected leftist guerrillas swept Portugal.

A previously unknown leftist guerrilla group claimed responsibility for the bombings, but it was unclear if this group was also involved in Monday’s fatal blast.

A group identifying itself as the Armed Revolutionary Organization (ORA) said in a statement to a newspaper that it carried out the bombings “to alert the Portuguese people to the start of our revolutionary activities.”

Four bombs exploded early Monday in and around the southern cities of Setubal and Evora, causing some damage at almost the same time as the fatal apartment blast. Police said the blast appeared to have been caused by mishandling of explosives but would not comment on whether it was linked to the bombings.

The fatal blast occurred overnight in the apartment of army reserve Col. Joao Eduardo Miranda Relvas, who was on vacation at the time, according to police, who named his son and a friend as the victims.

The leftist group made no mention of the Lisbon explosion. The emblems on the statement and the method of delivery--reporters were directed to its location in a city trash can--recalled those of the better-known FP-25 guerrillas, and official sources said that ORA may be a splinter group. The FP-25 (Popular Forces of April 25) has carried out many similar attacks.