Terrorist Jibril Reportedly Targets Soviet Emigres

Ahmed Jibril, the guerrilla leader suspected in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, has threatened to attack Jews emigrating from the Soviet Union to Israel, a London newspaper said Sunday.

The newspaper Independent on Sunday quoted Jibril, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, as saying the group is planning to target Soviet Jews to slow their arrival in Israel.

There are currently about 30,000 Soviet Jews entering Israel each month, with a total of 150,000 expected for the entire year, the newspaper said. The swelling numbers have drawn anger in the Arab world.

“If we are satisfied that the United States will continue helping Israel financially and in all other ways to continue this immigration, then we will use every possible means we can, including the armed struggle, to stop this immigration,” Jibril told the newspaper in an interview in Tehran.

Jibril’s threat was preceded by a warning 10 days ago by Israel’s chief of military intelligence that the Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union would be a terrorist target, the paper said.

“We are using diplomatic means now and political efforts, but when we feel we cannot make any progress in this manner we will try to find another way,” he said.

British investigators said in December that they believe Jibril’s pro-Syrian command was involved in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed all 259 people aboard and 11 Lockerbie residents on the ground on Dec. 21, 1988.

Citing intelligence sources, the paper said Jibril’s group organized the bombing for Iran, which paid them $3 million plus expenses. The bombing is believed to be in retaliation for the accidental shooting down of an Iranian airliner by the U.S. guided missile cruiser Vincennes during the Persian Gulf War, the newspaper said.

Jibril has repeatedly disclaimed any connection with the Pan Am bombing.