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Kikumura, Yu (1952– )———203

government officials “inspired, supported and to have lived in London and Athens for a number of
supervised members of Saudi Hezbollah” in the years during the 1970s.
attack. However, no Iranian officials were actually At some point, he became a member of the JRA, a
charged in the indictment. radical Marxist terrorist group that conducted many
Iran denied any role in the bombing, and Saudi hijackings and terrorist attacks during the 1970s.
Arabia challenged U.S. jurisdiction in the case, as Realizing the difficulty of fomenting a communist
the act took place in Saudi Arabia and 13 of the men revolution in Japan, a large number of the group’s
charged are Saudi citizens. Eleven of the suspects are members, led by Fusako Shigenobu, left that country
in Saudi custody, while the rest remain fugitives. Saudi in 1971 and moved to Lebanon. There they became
officials stated that it is impossible to extradite the men protégés of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
now in their custody and that the Saudi Arabian gov- Palestine (PFLP), a Middle Eastern Marxist group that
ernment will try them instead. In June 2002, the Saudi was affiliated with many Western terrorists groups
deputy interior minister announced that Saudi Arabia during the 1970s. Kikumura may have been trained in
has sentenced some of the people it arrested, but did the manufacture and use of explosives at a PFLP train-
not say how many or what the sentences were. ing camp during this time.
Four of the men indicted by the United States in In April 1986, the U.S. government bombed Libya
the Khobar case, Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s role in the La Belle
al-Nasser, Ahmad Ibrahim al-Mughassil, Ali Saed bin discotheque bombing in West Berlin, in which an
Ali el-Hoorie, and Ibrahim Salih Mohammed al- American serviceman was killed. In response, the JRA
Yacoub, number in the list of the FBI’s 22 “most planned a campaign of reprisals against U.S. targets.
wanted terrorists” released by President George W. In May 1986, Kikumura was arrested in Amsterdam,
Bush in October 2001. after airport security discovered more than a kilogram
of plastic explosives and several detonators concealed
See also AHMAD IBRAHIM AL-MUGHASSIL; ABDELKARIM
in his luggage. After Kikumura spent four months in
HUSSEIN MOHAMED AL-NASSER; IBRAHIM SALIH
MOHAMMED AL-YACOUB; BOMBINGS AND BOMB SCARES; prison, a Dutch judge ruled that the search of his lug-
gage had been conducted illegally, and he was freed
ALI SAED BIN ALI EL-HOORIE
and deported to Japan. Kikumura traveled extensively
Further Reading on a false passport during the next year; he left Madrid,
Spain, days after a cache of bombs believed to be
Risen, James, and Jane Perlez. “Terrorism and Iran: intended for the U.S. embassy was discovered, but no
Washington’s Policy Performs a Gingerly Balancing connection between Kikumura and the Madrid bombs
Act.” New York Times, June 23, 2001, A6
Walsh, Elsa. “Louis Freeh’s Last Case.” The New Yorker, could be proved.
May 14, 2001. On March 8, 1988, Kikumura entered the United
States. He spent the next several weeks crisscrossing
the country collecting bomb materials. On April 12,

KIKUMURA, YU (1952– ) a New Jersey state trooper searched Kikumura’s car
while he was parked at a rest stop. Three bombs, con-
sisting of shrapnel and gunpowder encased in fire extin-
Yu Kikumura is the member of the Japanese Red guishers, were discovered, along with bomb-making
Army (JRA) who was apprehended on the New Jersey materials and maps of New York City, including the
Turnpike in 1988 with bombs and bomb-making subway system.
materials. He may have been planning to bomb targets Two days later, on the anniversary of the Libyan
in New York City. bombings, a U.S.O. canteen in Naples, Italy, was
Kikumura was born on the island of Kyushu, bombed by the JRA. Kikumura’s thwarted attack may
Japan, on July 18, 1952. Little is known of his early have been planned to coincide with the Naples bomb-
life, although he has stated that he was politically ing. An ambiguous mark on one of his maps led inves-
influenced by his father, a labor organizer and politi- tigators to believe that he intended to bomb a naval
cal activist. In the late 1960s, he participated in the recruitment office in Manhattan. In February 1989,
Japanese student protest movement, although he has Kikumura was tried in the United States and sen-
claimed that his involvement was slight. He is known tenced to 30 years for terrorist activities. In 1991, this