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Austrian Police Confirm Bomb Was Aimed at Soviet Jews

Austrian police sources say they are almost “100 percent” certain that a fatal bomb explosion on the South Autobahn near Vienna last week was intended for a busload of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet–Union, the newspaper Kronenzeitung reported today.

According to police the bomb went off in the middle of the night. A transport of Russian Jews bound for the transit center at Schoenau castle was due to pass the spot at 7 a.m.

Police theorize that the bomb went off prematurely killing the person or persons who planted it. The remains of a man identified as Richard Dvorak, a 25-year-old karate expert, were found scattered over a 250 yard area. Police believe there may have been another victim. Parts of Dvorak’s body are still missing.

No suspects have been picked up so far. One source close to the investigation said, however, that there was a second theory that the bomb blast may have been the work of rival espionage groups resulting in the death of at least one spy. But Kronenzeitung quoted its police sources as saying that suspicion that the Jewish refugees were the intended victims “has been almost 100 percent confirmed.”

An Austrian police officer guarding the Schoenau transit center was shot to death with an Israeli submachine gun in what was apparently an accident, police reported today.

The officer was a member of the anti-guerilla force code-named “Cobra” which was placed on special alert at Schoenau following the Autobahn blast. He was killed by a fellow officer who was removing the hair-trigger weapon from a car when it fired. Another officer was wounded.