Top W. German Expert on Terrorism Survives Red Army Faction Bombing

The West German government’s top terrorism expert survived an assassination attempt in the heart of the capital Friday when suspected Red Army Faction guerrillas detonated a remote-controlled bomb as he drove by.

“They tried to kill me,” said Hans Neusel, who escaped with minor cuts to his hand, hours after the morning rush-hour attack as he was driving to work.

“It’s a risk in my job, but even if they had killed me, someone else would take my place,” he told reporters.

Neusel, 62, state secretary in the Interior Ministry and terrorism adviser to Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, said he had recently given up the use of a bodyguard and was driving alone when the blast hit.

A note claiming responsibility for the attack was found near the scene. It bore the familiar star symbol of the Red Army Faction but was signed by the “Jose Manuel Sevillano commando.” Sevillano was a suspected member of the Spanish leftist guerrilla group, GRAPO, who died on a hunger strike recently.

At a news conference after the attack, Neusel said there are links between various leftist groups such as France’s Action Directe, the Italian Red Brigades and GRAPO, who are working together to form a “West European guerrilla front.”

In the last two months, several suspected faction members have been arrested in East Germany, where the former Communist government was alleged to have given them sanctuary. They have been extradited to West Germany to stand trial.