Bomb Damage at N.Y. Airport Seen as Possible Terrorist Act

A bomb damaged a transmitter and wind-shear detection system serving New York’s La Guardia Airport, and authorities have launched a full-scale investigation into possible domestic terrorism after discovering a note containing intense anti-government rhetoric.

While federal authorities could not immediately determine whether Friday’s assault on an unmanned site at the Old Flushing Airport about two miles from La Guardia was a terrorist act, the tone of a handwritten note discovered at the scene left them no choice but to look into that possibility, officials said Saturday.

The note, which displayed a swastika, mentions the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI, and suggests that the bombing was in retaliation for federal law enforcement’s role in the 1993 standoff with Branch Davidians near Waco, Tex.

It did not identify its author or assign responsibility to any group, sources said. Initial indications suggest that some type of crude explosive device was used, one law enforcement source said.

Damage to the wind-shear detection system was immediately recognized by airport officials and there was no safety threat to La Guardia.

The bombing, which occurred about 4 p.m. EDT Friday, came on the heels of the sabotage early last week of an Amtrak train outside Phoenix. Typewritten notes found after the Arizona attack, attributing it to a group called the Sons of Gestapo, made references to the ATF and the FBI and alluded to the violent conflicts near Waco and at Ruby Ridge, Ida.

Sources said the styles of the notes were different, but they were pondering whether the New York incident was a copycat action.