Death Toll in Argentine Blast Rises to 96 : Bombing: Rescuers give up hope of finding survivors. Jewish leaders intensify demands for a thorough investigation.

A week after a powerful bomb ripped through the center of the largest Jewish community in Latin America, rescuers Monday gave up hope of finding more survivors as the official death toll climbed to 96.

Argentine and Israeli military personnel recovered 27 bodies and said 11 of the dead remained in the rubble after the devastating blast that some officials blame on Islamic extremists.

The July 18 explosion flattened a seven-story building that housed Jewish community services and 100-year-old archives. The incident is being described by some as the deadliest attack on Jews outside Israel since the Holocaust.

A little-known Islamic group calling itself Ansarollah, or Partisans of God, has claimed responsibility for the bombing and the crash a day later of an airplane in Panama, in which most of the 21 people killed were Jewish.

The authenticity of the claim has not been verified, but the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was attributed to Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based umbrella organization for Islamic radicals.

Struggling to overcome the staggering trauma to their community, Jewish leaders here are becoming increasingly vocal in demanding that authorities exhaust all possibilities to investigate the blast and prevent future acts of terrorism. The 1992 bombing was never solved, and security in this country is woefully lax.

“There are Jewish people who are truly terrified,” said Ramon Beraja, president of the Delegation of Argentine-Israelite Assns., whose office was destroyed in the blast. Security precautions “have not been sufficient because it never entered the Argentine mind that an Argentine target could be attacked this way, with such ferocity.”

Jews began migrating to Argentina in the last half of the 19th Century, and the community today numbers between 250,000 and 300,000, second only to the United States in this hemisphere.

Argentine and Israeli authorities said Monday there is mounting evidence that the blast was caused by a car bomb, possibly a van packed with explosives that was driven to the front doors of the crowded building.

“We found the motor of a truck in the crater” carved out by the explosion, said Meir Livne, an Israeli army general who traveled to Argentina to direct rescue operations by Israeli troops. He spoke through an interpreter.

In a sign the investigation will widen, Argentine Deputy Foreign Minister Fernando Petrella said Monday the government has ordered its ambassador in Lebanon to report home for consultations. The government also has asked for information from Iran regarding terrorist activities of Iranian nationals in Latin America.

Juan Jose Galeano, the judge in charge of investigating the case, traveled secretly to Venezuela over the weekend, reportedly to interview Iranian refugees who may have information on the Buenos Aires bombings.

The Venezuelan government expelled four Iranian diplomats and declared the Iranian ambassador persona non grata on Thursday after the refugees were allegedly kidnaped and tortured by diplomatic personnel.

Argentines of all faiths were shocked and unnerved by last week’s attack. Newspaper headlines warn of the “The Lebanon-ization of Argentina” while television programs are giving uninterrupted coverage to recovery operations, with psychologists offering advice.

Scores of bomb threats have been reported since the explosion, including one Monday that forced the evacuation of Congress. The Hebraic-Argentine Society said it is closing temporarily because of the number of threats it has received. Police with metal detectors were posted at Jewish schools Monday, the first day back to school for children following the Southern Hemisphere’s winter vacation.