Bomb Explodes in TWA Jet Over Greece

ATHENS, Greece--A luggage bomb exploded inside a TWA jetliner bound for Athens yesterday, hurtling an American man, two women and a baby three miles through the Greek skies to their deaths, officials reported.

A little-known Palestinian group claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was in retaliation for "American arrogance" in last week's U.S. military clash with Libya.

Seven other people, including four Americans, were injured aboard the Boeing 727--Flight 840 from Rome--which landed safely in Athens 10 minutes later, a gaping hole in its side, officials reported.

The explosion occurred at floor level in rows 10 or 11 of the passenger cabin, blowing one seat out through the hole as the jet flew at 15,000 feet, TWA President Richard D. Pearson said in New York. A senior Athens airport security official, Panagiotiso Christopoulos, had said the blast occurred in the cargo section below the seats.

The airline said 121 people were on board, including 111 passengers, seven crew members and three offduty crew members. Earlier accounts said 124 were on board. The flight originated in Los Angeles, stopped in New York and was scheduled to go on to Cairo, Egypt, after leaving Athens.

"There was a big bang and then the man beside me was blown out along with his seat," said Ibrahim al-Nami, 29, a Saudi Arabian passenger who was among the injured. "I felt myself being pulled out too and I hung on to my wife's seat beside me."

Three bodies were found on an unused Greek air force landing strip outside Argos, 120 miles southwest of Athens, said Christopoulos.

He identified the dead as Alberto Stino, a Colombian-born American; Dimitra Stylianopoulu, 52, a Greek; her daughter, Maria, 25; and her infant granddaughter. The baby's name and age were not given.

A reporter in Argos, Georgios Seraphim, told The Associated Press that a shepherd saw the bodies tumbling from the sky.

"The villagers found them--the partly dismembered body of an elderly man, a woman and a baby girl, about 18 months old, and a shattered plane seat," Seraphim said. He said "part of a leg" of a fourth person was found.

The Palestinian group, Arab Revolutionary Cells, claimed responsibility for the bombing in an anonymous telephone call to a Western news agency in Beirut, Lebanon.

The caller, speaking in Palestinian accented Arabic, said the Ezzedine Kassam Unit of the Arab Revolutionary Cells planted the bomb aboard the plane and would stage further attacks against U.S. targets "across the world."

There was no immediate official Libyan comment on the attack. But an employee of the government news agency in Tripoli, Libya, asserted that it had "nothing to do with us."

Christopoulos said the blast at 2:05 p.m. (6:05 a.m. EST) blew a 9-by-3-foot hole in front of the plane's right wing.

Greek officials identified the injured as Henry Simpson, 70, of Los Angeles; his wife, Myrtle, 67; James Carlton, 29, an American; Eleni Phillips, 63, a Greek-American from Patras, Greece; Despina Siotis, 24, of Athens; al-Nami and his wife, Nala, 30.

Passengers said they heard a loud noise and saw a blinding flash of light.