Bomb Explodes At U.S. Club in Naples

NAPLES, Italy--A car bomb blew up in front of a club for U.S. military personnel in Naples yesterday, killing five people and wounding at least 17, Italian officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast which happened shortly after 8 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT) at the USO club.

The Pentagon initially reported that one sailor was killed and four injured, but Navy Cmdr. Connie Haney later said authorities in Naples "have confirmed to us there are no Navy deaths."

Italian media quoted officials as saying three men and two women died in the blast. Witnesses said one of the bodies at the entrance of the club was draped in a U.S. flag. Italian hospital officials said at least four Americans were among the injured.

Haney said in Washington that personnel assigned to the three Navy vessels docked at Naples had been accounted for and "no people assigned to those three ships died."

He said it was possible that other U.S. servicemen could have been at the club. Navy officials were trying to confirm the number of injured U.S. military personnel, Haney said. He said the initial report of a dead sailor was the result of confusion following the blast.

Italian media said the bomb exploded during a reception at the club for the commander of the USS Paul, a torpedo boat destroyer docked in Naples. A U.S. Consulate official could not confirm the report.

Passers-by screamed and ran when the explosion occurred outside the club, which is in one of Naples' busiest areas.

"It was a huge boom and we were all knocked to the ground. When we got up, all we could see was flames everywhere," an unidentified Italian woman told the state-run RAI television network from her hospital bed.

A spokesman for Pellegrini Hospital said 14 of the wounded, including four Americans and eight Italians, were taken to a hospital. The spokesman, who spoke on condition he not be identified, said the four Americans later were sent to a U.S. military hospital. He said he had no details on the extent of the injuries.

RAI said one of the wounded, a 27-year-old Italian woman, was reported in grave condition.

A Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Lt. Col. Jim Jannette, said the USS Paul and USS Capodanno were in the Naples port at the time of the blast. The Capodanno's home port is Newport, R.I., and the Paul is from Mayport, Fla. Also in the Naples port was the USNS Kaiser, a Navy fueling vessel with a mainly civilian crew, he said.

RAI said 60 to 70 people were inside the club at the time of the explosion.