The 1988 Naples bombing was a

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

attack against a

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

(USO) military recreational club in downtown

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Italy on 14 April 1988. A powerful car bomb exploded in front of the USO club in Calata San Marco which caused the deaths of five people, including an American, and injuries to 15 others. The attack was perpetrated by a

Japanese Red Army The was a militant communist organization active from 1971 to 2001. It was designated a terrorist organization by Japan and the United States. The JRA was founded by Fusako Shigenobu and Tsuyoshi Okudaira in February 1971 and was most active i ...

(JRA) member and came on the second anniversary of the 1986 United States bombing of Libya.

Victims

Four Italian civilians were killed along with a female American assigned to the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

center in Naples. She was identified as 21-year-old Angela Simone Santos, a Puerto Rican servicewoman raised in

Aguadilla, Puerto Rico Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is s ...

and Ocala, Florida. Four American sailors were also among the wounded, and some North Africans were also hurt. Many sailors at the USO probably escaped injury as they were in basement rooms that were shielded from the blast.

Responsibility

Two previously unheard Arab groups claimed responsibility, one of them saying "Imperialist Americans must die two years after their barbarous attack against the Libyan Arab state," referring to the 1986 United States bombing of Libya. Police later identified Junzo Okudaira as the main suspect, a member of the far-left

(JRA) with links to groups in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. Okudaira was already wanted in Italy over a rocket and bomb attack against the American and British embassies in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 1987, where nobody was hurt. Okudaira was staying at a hotel under a false Taiwanese identity. The Libyan ambassador said that the Libyan government had nothing to do with the attack. A few days before the bomb attack, JRA member

Yū Kikumura was allegedly a member of the Japanese Red Army, an armed militant organization. Arrest in The Netherlands Police arrested Kikumura in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in 1986 when they found him carrying a bomb in his luggage. After spending fo ...

was arrested in the United States. Kikumura was thought to be planning a bomb attack on a U.S. Navy centre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in retaliation to the Libya bombing of 1986, and to be simultaneous to the bombing in Naples. In 1993, Okudaira was convicted ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

'' for murder. He has never been caught.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naples bombing 1988 murders in Italy 20th century in Naples April 1988 crimes April 1988 events in Europe Attacks on military installations in the 1980s Communist terrorism Crime in Naples Improvised explosive device bombings in 1988 Improvised explosive device bombings in Italy Japanese Red Army Mass murder in 1988 Terrorist incidents in Italy in 1988 20th-century mass murder in Italy Building bombings in Europe Italy–United States military relations United Service Organizations

Victims

Responsibility

See also

References