February 11, 1995, New York Times, Plans for Bombings Left by Terrorists, Authorities Assert, by David Johnson,

February 11, 1995, New York Times, Plans for Bombings Left by Terrorists, Authorities Assert, by David Johnson,

A computer disk and documents left in a Manila apartment by a gang of Middle Eastern terrorists provide details of an airliner bombing and a plot against the Pope that authorities suspect were planned by Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, the man accused of masterminding the World Trade Center bombing, law-enforcement officials said today. Federal agents suspect that Mr. Yousef supplied the financial backing, organizational know-how and technical expertise for the plots, in much the same way that prosecutors say he orchestrated the Trade Center bombing in February 1993.

It was evidence on the disk and other documents, picked up in a raid on Jan. 6 by the Manila police, that led the State Department to issue a strongly worded warning in January about the possibility of bomb threats to American airlines with routes to the Far East, government officials said. The State Department stepped up the warning this week, ordering tighter security measures on American airlines operating in Europe and Africa.

The disk describes a bomb plot in January that was intended to kill Pope John Paul II during his visit to the Philippines, said law-enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity. But the Pope may have been a secondary target or an unwitting actor in a plan to use the tumult stirred by his arrival in Manila on Jan. 12 to plant a bomb on an American airliner, the officials said.

The disk also provides an account of a bombing attack in December on a Philippines Airlines jumbo jet en route to Tokyo from Manila, the officials said. The blast killed a Japanese passenger and wounded six other passengers. News reports in the Philippines have said that five days before the explosion Mr. Yousef flew the same route under a fake name on a dry run.

It was the search of the Manila apartment that prompted Mr. Yousef to flee, apparently raising his visibility enough so that a tipster who learned he was in Islamabad, Pakistan, turned him in to the State Department hoping to claim the $2 million reward. He was turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and returned to the United States on Wednesday night.

He is being held in New York.

As the activities of Mr. Yousef and his confederates in Manila emerge as the central focus of the spreading inquiry, Mr. Yousef has talked to the F.B.I., officials said. His remarks, boasting statements made shortly after his arrest, do not constitute a confession and do not indicate that he has agreed to cooperate with authorities, the officials said.

Mr. Yousef has pleaded not guilty to 11 felony charges in the trade center bombing; he has not been charged with any other crimes.

One official compared the tone of his statements to the biblical rantings of David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader in Texas who, in long and futile negotiations with the F.B.I., quoted scripture and frustrated efforts to coax him from his armed compound by avoiding direct answers to negotiators' questions.

Mr. Yousef's lawyer, Avraham C. Moskowitz, denied today that his client had cooperated with the Government, but would not discuss whether Mr. Yousef talked to F.B.I. agents during the flight to New York from Islamabad. "He is not cooperating; he is not talking." he said.

F.B.I. agents routinely seek to interview suspects after they are advised of their right to seek legal advice before answering any questions. One official said that Mr. Yousef's statements may provide some useful insights into the case and are being carefully analyzed by criminal investigators.