'Army of God' letters claim responsibility for clinic bombing

In this story:

• Letters contain verification code
• Feds taking letters 'very seriously'
• 'You are not immune from retaliation'
• Funeral for slain officer held
• Related stories and sites

February 2, 1998
Web posted at: 10:25 p.m. EST (0325 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal law enforcement officials received two letters Monday claiming responsibility for the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, women's clinic that killed an off-duty police officer and critically wounded a nurse.

The letters, handwritten in block print, bear the name "Army of God," the same person or group that claimed responsibility for bombings last year in Atlanta at a gay nightclub and a clinic where abortions are performed, sources said.

They were postmarked Birmingham, mailed the day of the bombing -- but in the afternoon -- and contained the verification code included in a letter sent last year claiming responsibility for the Atlanta bombings.

Following the Atlanta attacks, a letter sent February 22, 1997, the day after the nightclub bombing, also was handwritten in block print and warned, "The next facility targeted may not be empty."

Both the latest letters and the 1997 correspondence proclaimed: "Death to the New World Order."

Feds taking letters 'very seriously'

The bomb that blew up in front of the New Woman All Women Health Care Clinic in Birmingham on Thursday morning killed an off-duty policeman who was moonlighting as a security guard and critically wounded a nurse.

Federal sources told CNN they were taking the new letters "very seriously" but emphasized they were not considered conclusive evidence that the Birmingham bombing and the earlier attacks in Atlanta were linked.

In both the Atlanta and Birmingham cases, the "Army of God" letters were sent to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper and the Atlanta office of the Reuters international news service.

This time, the Reuters' correspondence was intercepted by federal authorities before it was seen by representatives of the news agency. In addition to the letter, Reuters said it also received an empty envelope, ostensibly from the same source.

The letter sent after the Atlanta attacks said those bombings were meant to "serve as a warning" to "anyone in or around facilities that murder children."

'You are not immune from retaliation'

This week's letter addressed to Reuters said in part:

"The bombing in Birmingham was carried out by the Army of God. Let those who work in the murder mill's (sic) around the nation be warned once more -- you will be targeted without quarter -- you are not immune from retaliation. Your commissar's (sic) in Washington can't protect you!"

Sources also noted dissimilarities between the latest letters and the one sent last year.

For example, the new letters do not describe the content or style of the Birmingham bomb. The original Army of God letter detailed bomb components.

A federal task force is also investigating whether the Atlanta clinic and nightclub bombings were related to the Centennial Olympic Park bomb attack during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta that killed one person and injured more than 100 others.

The two new letters were sent to a federal law enforcement laboratory for analysis.

FBI spokesman Craig Dahle said it is "too soon to say anything now" as to the authenticity of the letters.

Sanderson's casket is carried by police officers

Funeral for slain officer held

Meanwhile, the condition of a nurse severely injured in the Birmingham bombing was upgraded Monday from critical to serious.

Emily Lyons, 41, the head nurse and counselor at the New Woman All Women clinic, remained hospitalized in intensive care Monday, University Hospital spokesman Hank Black said. She lost an eye, and her other eye was injured, as were her legs, hand and abdomen.

Hundreds of police officers gathered at the Homewood Church of Christ.
	1.9MB/25 sec./240x180 944K/25 sec./160x120 QuickTime movie

The bombing killed Officer Robert D. Sanderson, 34. It was the first fatal bombing in U.S. history at a clinic where abortions are performed.

In Birmingham Monday, hundreds of police officers gathered at the Homewood Church of Christ in a cold rain for Sanderson's funeral.

Investigators, meanwhile, continued to search for Eric Robert Rudolph, a North Carolina man whose pickup truck was seen near the Birmingham clinic shortly after the bomb went off.

Federal agents have said Rudolph, 31, is sought as a witness, not as a suspect, and they are unsure if he is the man who reportedly was seen getting in the truck after the bombing.

Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Related stories:

• Witness in Alabama clinic blast still missing - February 1, 1998
• Search continues for witness in clinic bombing - January 31, 1998
• Women's clinics on alert after Birmingham bombing - January 30, 1998
• Witnesses questioned in fatal clinic bombing - January 29, 1998

Related sites:

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• Birmingham Post-Herald
• Jefferson County Sheriff's Department
• U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

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