171 Killed on Jet Probably Bomb Victims, Airline Says : Caller Says Terrorists Take Credit

A bomb most likely caused the crash of a French DC-10 jetliner that exploded in the sky over a desolate stretch of northern Africa, killing all 171 people on board, the airline said today.

The French airline UTA also said it received an anonymous call from a man claiming responsibility for the crash on behalf of the Muslim terrorist group Islamic Jihad. The airline said it was not in a position to judge the call’s authenticity and informed the French Foreign Ministry.

Later today, an unidentified man telephoned a Western news agency in London and read a statement in English said to be from Islamic Jihad. The statement linked the crash to Israel’s capture of a Shiite Muslim cleric, Sheik Abdul-Karim Obeid, in southern Lebanon on July 28.

Contents of Statement

“In the name of Allah and Imam Khomeini, the Islamic Jihad issued this statement: We are proud of this action which was very successful. We would like to say the French are warned not to exchange information regarding Sheik Obeid with the Israelis no more. We demand the freedom of Sheik Obeid and otherwise we will refresh the memories of the bombings in Paris of ’85 and ’86. Long live the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.

The wreckage of the aircraft was found today scattered widely across the rocky, sandy and remote section of south-central Niger.

French army soldiers stationed in neighboring Chad were the first to reach the crash site. They said all 15 crew members and 156 passengers, including eight children, died in the crash.

Among the passengers who boarded in N’Djamena was Bonnie Pugh, wife of the U.S. ambassador to Chad, Robert L. Pugh, the U.S. Embassy in Chad said.

The French news agency Agence France-Presse said Chadian Planning Minister Mahamat Soumahila was also on the plane.

Most passengers appeared to be French, Chadian and Congolese, said the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said today that it was sending a team of U.S. investigators to the crash site.

Contact was lost with the Paris-bound jet less than an hour after it took off Tuesday from the capital of Chad, N’Djamena, after originating in the Congo.

“It exploded at high altitude, leaving every reason to believe it was a bomb,” UTA airline spokesman Michel Friess said on French television. He said it was possible, but less likely, that a technical failure was to blame.

“It appears to have exploded in flight at high altitude,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The pieces are widely scattered, so it didn’t crash on impact.”

Islamic Jihad is among several radical fundamentalist groups in Lebanon presumed to be part of Hezbollah, the Iran-financed guerrilla group that is believed to hold most of the 16 Western hostages in Lebanon, including eight Americans.

Sheik Obeid also is a member of Hezbollah, or Party of God. Three days after his abduction, the pro-Iranian Organization of the Oppressed on Earth claimed that it retaliated by hanging U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, who was abducted while on U.N. duty in Lebanon,including eight Americans.

Sheik Obeid also is a member of Hezbollah, or Party of God. Three days after his abduction, the pro Iranian Organization of the Oppressed on Earth claimed that it retaliated by hanging U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins.