Australians Reopen Probe Into ’82 Bombings

By Haaretz August 25, 2012

Australian counter-terror agents have reopened an investigation into the bombings of the Israeli Consulate and a Jewish social club in Sydney 30 years ago.

Police confirmed Saturday that members of a special force called “Operation Forbearance,” established to investigate these two bombings on December 23, 1982, had interviewed a prime suspect in an American jail.

In the first Australian counter-terror cold case ever to be reopened, detectives travelled in May to interrogate Jordanian-born Palestinian Mohammed Rashid, local media reported.

The 65-year-old is serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison in Indiana for the bombing of a Pan Am flight from Japan to Hawaii in August 1982, which killed one passenger and injured 15 others.

Australian detectives believe Rashid, who is scheduled to be released next March, was also behind the bombings of the Israeli Consulate and the Hakoah Club.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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