FBI Discloses Key Evidence in Atlanta Blasts

A task force trying to solve three bomb attacks that have rocked this city revealed key physical evidence Tuesday in the hope that someone will recognize the deadly handiwork of a friend or neighbor, a co-worker or relative.

At a news conference, FBI agents displayed the crude makings of a pipe bomb that exploded July 27, 1996, in Centennial Olympic Park, killing one person and injuring 111.

They also laid out ingredients of two other bomb attacks that are believed to be connected, one at a local abortion clinic in January that injured seven people and one at a lesbian nightclub five weeks later that injured five.

“We are making this information public today because we are confident that when the public sees these items, someone will be able to provide information that will assist us in identifying the person or persons responsible for these terrible crimes,” said Jack A. Daulton, the FBI agent in charge of the Atlanta field office.

Although they conceded that Tuesday’s news conference was “unusual,” giving citizens and future suspects a look at much of what has been learned, task force leaders denied that they have been forced to take drastic measures because their investigation is stalled.

“Actually, we have proceeded along a number of fronts,” said Woody R. Enderson, the FBI agent who heads the bomb task force. “This is only one area we’re focusing on. The investigation is definitely not at a standstill.”

Enderson noted that all three attacks involved similar bombs with similar ingredients, including large construction-type nails for shrapnel, Westclox brand windup alarm clocks for timing devices, and steel plates, possibly to direct the blasts.

“We’ve previously said there’s evidence to believe these bombs may be related,” Enderson said. “We’re proceeding along that path.”

In the last year, FBI agents have held several similar news conferences to ask the public’s help. They released excerpts of letters sent to news outlets after the nightclub attack, and they issued descriptions and sketches of men they want to question.

“We’ve received marvelous response in regard to those appeals,” Enderson said.

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Now, they hope someone will recognize a bomb component, or combination of components, that, perhaps, disappeared from a job site, or looked incongruous when seen together on the same workshop shelf, or seemed strange when bought together.

The olive-green military-style backpack that contained the Centennial Olympic Park bomb was modified in peculiar ways. Its buckles were covered with black plastic electrical tape and a handle was fashioned with a wooden rod jammed into the top.

The pack held a steel plate one-eighth of an inch thick, three metal pipes and three or four pounds of Accurate Arms brand smokeless gunpowder, “which is a lot of that type of gunpowder to buy at one time,” Enderson said.

Enderson asked anyone with information to call the bomb task force hotline at (888) ATF-BOMB, reiterating a standing $500,000 reward offer for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for any of the attacks.

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Researcher Edith Stanley contributed to this story.