Key pieces of deadly Saudi blast recovered
Saturday's developments at a glance Clinton to attend memorial services Perry : Bombing exposed vulnerability Terror bomb called 'biggest ever' Serviceman, thought dead, survived blast (story) June 29, 1996
Web posted at: 11:20 p.m. EDT (0320 GMT)EGLIN AFB, Florida (CNN) -- In Saudi Arabia, investigators have unearthed some vital clues to Tuesday's deadly terror attack, including the serial number of the truck-turned-bomb that killed 19 U.S. servicemen and sheared the facade off an eight-story apartment building housing non-Saudi military personnel.
Persian Gulf newspapers quoted Saudi officials as saying that investigators had the license number of the fuel truck and would soon release composite sketches of two suspects.
Investigators also have the chassis from the truck, complete with serial number, a blackened crankshaft, and a Mercedes-Benz hubcap that they think came from the same vehicle, Air Force officials said.
An FBI team has laid out hundreds of metal parts from the truck on three long plastic sheets in the parking lot north of the devastated complex.
Clinton to attend memorial services
President Clinton left France early Sunday to attend memorial services at two Florida Air Force Bases where many of those killed in Saudi Arabia's devastating truck bombing were stationed.
Clinton's plane took off from Paris' Orly Airport after he had a private dinner in the capital with French President Jacques Chirac.
The president's whirlwind visit to Paris came after a three-day economic summit in Lyon, attended by leaders of the seven major industrial countries.
Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton were to have spent Sunday sightseeing in Paris, but the president cut short his visit to attend Sunday's memorial services.
A dozen airmen killed in last Tuesday's bombing were assigned to the 33rd Fighter Wing (nicknamed "Nomads" because of frequent deployments dating back to World War II) based at Eglin AFB near Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Five were based at Patrick AFB near Cocoa Beach, Florida.
The Eglin victims died just two days before their 90-day deployment was to have ended.
Perry : Bombing exposed vulnerability
U.S. Defense Secretary William J. Perry flew in for a brief tour of the bomb site Saturday and revealed that security had been stepped up prior to Tuesday's blast due to suspicions that people were scouting out the complex that houses some 2,000 American servicemen.
Since the bombing additional security measures taken include moving perimeter barriers to 400 feet (120 meters) from the building -- four times farther out than before. Perry acknowledged that U.S. officials must assume another attack is possible.
"We have to take that vulnerability very seriously," he said.
But Perry said the U.S. would not be intimidated by terrorists and would maintain its military presence in Saudi Arabia.
"This attack will not drive us away," he said. "To give in would be to betray the brave airmen who died in Dhahran and their families."
Earlier Saturday, Perry said there was a possible link between Tuesday's bombing and last November's bombing of a U.S. military facility in Riyadh.
The four Saudis convicted and executed for that attack said they were protesting the presence of U.S. military in the kingdom. There are some 5,000 American troops in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest shrines.
'Biggest terrorist bomb'
Clinton's national security adviser Anthony Lake said the blast in Saudi Arabia, involving an estimated 5,000 pounds of explosives, was "probably the biggest terrorist bomb ever set off."
In an interview with CNN, Lake confirmed that Saudi authorities had not permitted the FBI to have access to the four Saudis convicted and executed for their role in last November's terrorist bombing in Riyadh.
He explained that the Saudi authorities were "less used" to cooperating with the U.S. at that time. But he insisted that this time, things were different; the Saudis, he said, were cooperating fully.
U.S. officials have suggested that if they had had access to the four suspects in the earlier bombing, they might have better anticipated this latest attack.
Lake affirmed that the U.S. had, after the Riyadh bombing, received intelligence warnings about possible additional terrorist attacks -- including around the bombed apartment building near Dhahran -- and that the U.S. military had taken extra security precautions.
But Lake said there were no guarantees that such an attack would not happen again. "We are in for many years for a struggle against terrorism," he said.
The U.S. is still unaware of the identity of the bombers, Lake said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Defense chief says U.S. will stay in Saudi Arabia - June 29, 1996
- Clinton and Dole take on terrorism in radio addresses - June 29, 1996
- Airmen return for bittersweet homecoming - June 28, 1996
- Hero describes desperate seconds before blast - June 28, 1996
- Troops in Saudi Arabia jolted from bed by hoax bomb threat - June 28, 1996
- G-7 leaders pledge to fight terrorism - June 27, 1996
- Bodies of dead servicemen arrive home - June 27, 1996
- General defends safeguards at Saudi complex - June 27, 1996
- Christopher tours Saudi bomb wreckage - June 26, 1996
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