Blast Survivors Tell of Terror; U.S. Won’t Pull Back

American survivors of a terrorist truck bomb attack at a Saudi military base told Wednesday of an explosion that seemed like “the end of the world,” as Secretary of State Warren Christopher flew here to honor the blast’s victims and pledge continued U.S. military vigilance in the strategic Persian Gulf region.

As investigators stepped up a search for clues, U.S. military personnel told of the catastrophe that struck the barracks just before bedtime, shearing off an entire face of an eight-story building and blowing out windows three-quarters of a mile away. Nineteen American servicemen were killed.

The bomb, strapped to a fuel truck that was parked 35 yards from the barracks, was the worst Middle East terrorist attack on Americans since 1983, when a bomb killed 241 U.S. military personnel in Beirut.

Christopher, touring the King Abdulaziz Air Base housing complex at twilight with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al Faisal, soberly vowed that investigators will find the perpetrators of “this dastardly act of cowardice.”

“I can assure you,” he said, “that this will not deter the U.S. in any way in carrying forward with its mission” of protecting the region.

The air base is home to about 2,400 U.S. personnel, who with British, French and Saudi pilots enforce the “no fly” zone that keeps the Iraqi military from patrolling the skies over southern Iraq.

In the blast’s aftermath, wooden furniture, mattresses, crushed television sets and bathtubs hung exposed from the jagged, sheared face of the barracks in a gruesome bas-relief. With reinforcing rods poking from the concrete wreckage, the image invited comparisons to the deadly April 1995 blast at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Sgt. Harold Jautakis, who had been preparing for bed at the time, said he survived only because the initial explosion knocked his recliner chair backward, shielding him before the shock sent a wave of razor-sharp glass shards across him.

“It looked like a fireball came up,” he told reporters as Christopher toured the King Abdulaziz Armed Forces Hospital.

Jautakis, of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, said he found himself covered with bits of paint and varnish blown from his wall. He crawled up the stairs of his barracks looking for survivors.

“I kept finding a lot of bodies. But not a lot of them were breathing,” he said.

He entreated Christopher to catch the bombers. “If you find the people who did this . . . maybe they won’t do this again.”

Airman Eric Castor, 22, of Keene, N.H., was working on his computer with his back to the barracks window when the explosion occurred.

“There was a moment of silence, then wham! I thought my eardrums were going to explode,” Castor said, comparing it to “the end of the world.”

“It was just like the movies: My body flew across the room,” he said. “I thought I was going to die.”

Singled out for praise by Christopher and others was Master Sgt. Alfredo Guerrero, one of three guards on the barracks roof at the time of the blast. Guerrero spotted the bomb-laden truck when it pulled up outside the perimeter and alerted Saudi police stationed outside.

Then, instead of seeking safety, he ran downstairs to alert the other men in the barracks. In the three minutes that remained before the blast, many were able to scramble to safety.

“Many are alive today because of his heroism,” Christopher said.

The force of the explosion scooped a crater 35 feet deep, causing sea water to seep through the sandy soil and mingle with the crushed debris. Blood-encrusted bedclothes remained at the site.

Responding to the tragedy, the Pentagon said it rushed teams of medical specialists, search-and-rescue personnel, engineers and intelligence officers to Dhahran.

By late Wednesday, the military had counted 19 Americans dead, 64 seriously injured and about 200 others who had been treated during the evening and were back on duty Wednesday. All were members of the Air Force.

Earlier Pentagon reports said 23 Americans were killed, but the toll was revised downward Wednesday.

At least two Californians were among the dead, according to a partial list released by the Defense Department. They were identified as Capt. Leland T. Haun of Clovis and Airman 1st Class Justin R. Wood of Modesto.

Dr. Roy Smith, who oversaw treatments at the Abdulaziz military hospital, said most of the injuries were cuts inflicted by flying glass, including some that occurred hundred of yards from ground zero.

There were some inconsistencies in estimates of the number of non-American casualties, but Saudi officials said more than 400 people of different nationalities were injured, including Saudis, Bangladeshis, Egyptians, Jordanians, Indonesians and Filipinos.

Army Gen. Binford Peay, head of the U.S. Central Command, which has responsibility for U.S. military operations in the Middle East, said the bodies of the dead airmen will be flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware today for identification and return to their families.

He said the military was prepared to evacuate any of the wounded who might need more attention than Saudi hospitals could provide. U.S. military hospitals in Europe were ordered to prepare to treat casualties.

President Clinton also dispatched a team of FBI agents to the area to help Saudi officials determine who set off the blast. The team includes a variety of forensic experts who are specially trained in collecting and analyzing fingerprints and other evidence.

U.S. officials said that, as of late Wednesday, there were no clues as to who was involved. Wire services reported that a London newspaper had received a call from a man who claimed responsibility, but authorities doubted his credibility.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary William J. Perry will visit Saudi Arabia on Saturday for meetings with U.S. officials and Saudi leaders. He is also expected to visit U.S. troops at a Saudi base near Dhahran.

White House officials said Clinton will attend memorial services for the victims Sunday at Eglin and Patrick Air Force bases in Florida and might also decide to visit the bomb site. He is currently attending a two-day summit of leaders from the seven largest industrial democracies, being held in Lyons, France.

Before departing for the summit on Wednesday, Clinton said: “We cannot have economic security in a global economy unless we stand against these forces of terrorism. The United States will lead the way, and we expect our allies to walk with us hand in hand. We cannot tolerate this kind of conduct.”

The president ordered all U.S. flags flown at half-staff until sunset Sunday.

The destroyed barracks is one of about 40 eight-story buildings in the Khobar Towers complex that was built by the Saudis for foreign soldiers. The beige buildings are surrounded by palm trees, heavy concrete barricades and fences topped with concertina wire.

One senior Saudi official said investigators had so far uncovered no conclusive links to a terrorist attack on military forces in Riyadh last year that killed five Americans and two Indians. Tuesday’s explosion immediately aroused suspicions that it may have been in retaliation for the beheading of four men in May for the Riyadh bombing.

Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, toured the military hospital with Christopher and promised a recuperating U.S. soldier that punishment would be meted out.

“It will be swift, harsh justice,” Bandar pledged.

U.S. military officials said they once again were reassessing security arrangements at installations in Saudi Arabia where Americans are based to determine whether anything more should be done to prevent terrorists from attacking U.S. compounds.

Maj. Gen. Kurt Anderson, who heads the U.S. military command charged with containing Iraq’s influence in the region, said base officials “took every precaution” before the explosion.

Military officials said they have no misgivings about the Saudi civilian police who patrolled outside the barricaded perimeter guarded by U.S. sentries. But they acknowledged that Saudi police did allow some auto traffic to pass along the roadway.

The U.S. service members at the base are from the 4404th Composite Air Wing, which flies about 60 aircraft in the region.

Their patrols are meant to stop Iraqi flyovers and also to block any rearmament of Iraqi ground forces.

Times staff writer Art Pine in Washington contributed to this report.