In the early morning of 5 September, Black September guerrillas burst into the Israeli sleeping quarters with machine- guns blazing. Moshe Weinberg, a 33-year-old wrestling coach, was killed instantly and Yosef Romano, a weightlifter, was fatally wounded as he held a door shut while team-mates escaped; 15 got out through windows and side doors, but 10 were taken hostage.The terrorists were demanding the release of 200 Palestinians held in Israeli jails and wanted safe passage out of Germany. Terror at the Olympics is not new. In 1968, the opening ceremony in Mexico City was overshadowed by the massacre of 260 protesters by troops, but this took place 10 days before the games began. But it is the 1972 Munich massacre of sportsmen that remains the darkest Olympic legend. "It will provoke horror among all civilised people," he said.In America, Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole asked for a moment of silent prayer "for the victims of this cowardly act" "We must make a very public pledge," he said. [It] has once again demonstrated the importance of uniting the efforts of all countries in the fight against terrorism."French president Jacques Chirac sent a message of sympathy "and solidarity from the French people" and told President Clinton that this week's Paris summit on terrorism should seek new ways to confront such acts.Chancellor Kohl of Germany described the bombing as a cowardly attack showing wanton disregard for life. "We will find the perpetrators, we will stop them, we will punish them, and we will never surrender to their terror.".

The material is pretty much available in any plumbing store," he said yesterday.. John Major condemned the bombing as a "desecration of the Olympic spirit".The Prime Minister was "horrified to hear of the explosion and of the deaths and injuries caused to innocent people enjoying the celebrations surrounding the Olympic Games". Pope John Paul sent his condolences to relatives of the bomb victims, invoking "divine consolation and strength". President Yeltsin's press secretary, Sergei Medvedev, said: "The president condemned this barbaric act, which is in fact a challenge to the whole world community. A little-recorded incident at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 involved the arrest of a single man, armed with several home-made pipe bombs, who was caught tailing a bus of athletes.The simplicity of making a pipe bomb was underscored by Jeff Beatty, a security consultant and a former FBI agent "It's not difficult. On 1 July, meanwhile, police arrested 12 members of the so-called Viper Militia at a secret training ground in the Arizona desert.A second scenario, however, would point to an attack by a deranged person working alone. The men face charges of conspiring to make pipe bombs and other explosives and weapons for a campaign against the government.The phenomenon of renegade militia groups has taken a high profile in the US in recent months, in particular in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people last year.Until the downing of TWA 800 10 days ago, it was the second most deadly terrorist attack on American citizens - 189 US nationals died at Lockerbie.

Initial reports suggested that the caller was a male with an American accent.Before dispatchers were able to relay the warning to police at the concert, an officer had been alerted to the presence of the unattended bag and had begun dispersing people when it detonated. Given the length of the warning period, questions were being asked why it had not been possible for the police to act faster to clear the area.The greatest break in the investigation could come from a recording of the concert by one of the US networks or even from the still photographs of a spectator. Under the best scenario, the person may even have been captured on film placing the bag containing the explosives in the crowd.The use of a pipe bomb, a crude device that can be assembled by almost anyone, pointed away from a foreign terrorist organisation, which would be expected to have used more sophisticated means, and towards either a crazed individual or, more ominously, an American militia group.Echoing through the investigation was the arrest in April in Macon, an hour south of Atlanta, of three members of a militia group calling itself the 112th Regiment, Militia-at-Large for the Republic of Georgia. The bombing was declared a terrorist attack by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, which took instant control of the inquiry.