ATLANTA: A bomb ripped through a crowd at the Centennial Olympic Park early July 27th, killing two persons and injuring more than 150 revelers in the social center of the Games. ‘Jack, Mack the heart attack’ is a reggae band, hardly known internationally. In fact, when they received an invitation to perform at the AT & T “Global village located in the Centennial Peace Park during the Olympic Games, they were probably right in believing that it was their chance to make ripples with literally the world tapping their feet and swinging away into the wee hours. The Olympic ambience and a stage like none else is a dream situation for a little known band. But never in their wildest dreams did they realize what an impact their music would make. There were more than 50,000 people enjoying the free concert, when a sudden blast with a huge sound, which was initially believed to be some kind of a firework show, ripped through the crowd. The police and the FBI said that at least four persons were killed, one of them a Turk cameraman, and more than 150 injured, some of them requiring considerable medical attention and admittance to the hospital. The names of other victims have not been released. Comparisons with the terrorist attack at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 were inevitable. Then Palestinian terrorists had attacked Israeli athletes in the village and it left 11 of them dead. Here in Atlanta the blast took place less than a mile away from the village. And many of the venues, including the Main Press Center, which also houses the offices of many organizations including that of the International Olympic Committee, are all within a one mile radius of the Centennial Park where the blast occurred. President Bill Clinton addressed the nation and described the incident as an “evil act of terrorism.” Clinton, who has already visited the Games in Atlanta twice, had also sent his daughter to see the Games for a few days. A couple of days before the blast, his daughter, Chelsea, were at the Centennial Park exchanging pins. In a significant statement, he said he was not averse to death punishment for terrorists. Varying reports began to emerge over the next few hours. But it did become clear that a call to the police had been made by an anonymous person intimating that a bomb had been placed at the Park. The public telephone from where the call was made has been identified and it is being dusted for finger payments. The FBI claimed to have identified the caller as a “white male.” A suspicious packet, believed to have contained the explosive, had actually been identified and the security personnel alerted. Later it was ascertained that there were three pipe bombs and not one.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 31, 1996
