The World - News from June 14, 1988

The United States is urging a reluctant Greece to extradite an alleged Palestinian terrorist suspected of placing bombs aboard two U.S. jetliners that killed five people, the State Department said. But in Athens, a security official said that Mohammed Rashid, 34, will be tried on charges of entering Greece on a forged passport. Because of that, the official said, “the question of his extradition . . . doesn’t arise at this stage.” If convicted, the official said, Rashid could receive a sentence of 18 to 24 months. The Palestinian is suspected of involvement in the bombings of a Pan Am jet coming in to land in Honolulu in 1982 and a TWA plane over Greece in 1986. Four people, including a baby, died in the 1986 bombing, which blew a hole in the airliner.