Italians Arrest Libyan Suspect in ’86 Bombing

Italian police arrested a Libyan wanted in the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco full of U.S. soldiers, capturing him as he strolled alone down a street in Rome, police said Wednesday.

Authorities intercepted telephone calls to track down Musbah Eter in Rome, a month after he fled Germany and an indictment in the April 5, 1986, attack on the disco.

The bombing killed two U.S. soldiers and a Turkish woman and injured about 230 people, many of them U.S. soldiers. Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi’s regime was widely blamed for the attack, and the United States retaliated by bombing Libya’s two biggest cities.

Eter, 40, was arrested Tuesday, Italy’s anti-terrorism squad said.

Germany and the United States contend that Kadafi ordered his spies in what was then East Berlin to bomb the disco in West Berlin. Eter allegedly confessed to German prosecutors and promised to testify against four other suspects.

German prosecutors indicted the five in February, naming Eter as an accessory. Eter fled Germany in July, prompting German police to issue an arrest warrant for him.

Michaele Blume, spokeswoman for German courts and prosecutors, said it was not immediately clear why Eter was allowed to remain free after his indictment.

German police found the fugitive by intercepting telephone calls to an apartment and public phones in the Rome neighborhood where he was arrested, said Nicola De Cristofaro of the anti-terrorism squad.

Eter will be extradited to Germany as soon as the paperwork arrives, he said.

De Cristofaro said it appeared that Eter had been in Italy for several weeks. German police tipped off the Italians last week.

Three others--a Libyan couple and an Italian--were arrested and charged with helping Eter.

Italian state TV reported early today that a judge had dropped charges against the Italian, saying there was insufficient evidence that she had helped Eter. The Libyan woman pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting and was given a suspended sentence of four months, the report said, while her husband was convicted and sentenced to eight months and ordered jailed.