W. German Offices Rocked by Bombs; Attacks Linked to Futile British Coal Strike
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BOCHUM, West Germany — Three bombs damaged offices in Bochum, Essen and Hamburg early today, and the left-wing Revolutionary Cells group said it caused the explosions to support the just-ended British coal miners’ strike.
The blasts caused considerable damage but no injuries, police said, and came nearly a day after a department store bombing in Dortmund injured eight people. Another left-wing terrorist group claimed responsibility for the Dortmund bombing.
The Revolutionary Cells, an underground group that supports the goals of the terrorist Red Army Faction, claimed responsibility for today’s bombings in a letter delivered to the German news agency DPA in Duesseldorf.
The letter described the bombed offices as “grave diggers” of the nearly yearlong British coal miners’ walkout, which ended without a settlement this week.
The offices housed the Ruhr coal industry employers in Essen, the West German coal miners’ union in Bochum and a ship chandler’s office in Hamburg.
The letter said they were bombed “so that they don’t remain completely unpunished for profiting from strike-breaking.”
The letter accused the West German coal industry of profiteering during the British strike and said the ship chandler’s office in Hamburg was the “coordinating point” for German coal shipments to Britain during the strike.
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