MUNICH, West Germany -- The bombing two days ago of Radio Free Europe, which beams Western news and views to Eastern Europe, could have been the work of foreign agents, special political crime investigators said Monday.
Police began technical tests in an effort to establish the origin of the 20-pound bomb that exploded Saturday near the Czech section of the U.S. government-financed radio station.
'We can't exclude any possibilities,' said special prosecutor Hubert Vollmann, who heads the investigation. He said the attack did not bear the 'obvious handwriting' of any specific group -- an apparent reference to West German terrorists.
Another prosecution official said, 'The nature of the attacked station does not allow us to rule out the possibility of an attack by foreign agents or terrorists.'
RFE, which was originally set up by the CIA, has been under congressional control and funding since 1970, although European terrorist groups have continued to accuse it of broadcasting CIA propaganda.
RFE spokesman Bob Redlich said the station had received no threats prior to the bombing, which seriously injured three Czech staff members and caused $2 million damage. The Czech desk was destroyed, along with part of the Russian desk and the central switchboard, and transmissions were briefly cut.
Police said the plastic explosive was fastened to a basement wall near the Czech desk, but would have caused more damage if the bomb had been encased.
