La Guardia Airport Bombing

On December 29, 1975, a bomb exploded at New York City's La Guardia Airport, killing 11 and injuring more than 75. The crime, considered to be one of the most lethal bombings of its time as well as one of the first major terrorist attacks on an airport, remains unsolved more than 25 years later.

The bomb detonated at 6:30 P.M. on a busy, postholiday Monday night, shattering the 30-foot-tall plate glass windows of the lower-level baggage claim area shared by TWA and Delta. The explosion blew a 10-by-15-foot hole through the eight-inch-thick reinforced concrete ceiling and also damaged the ceiling on the floor above. The terminal's luggage carousels and huge metal doors lay mangled.

The blast touched off a two-alarm fire and triggered the airport sprinkler system. Firefighters, who battled rush-hour traffic, suppressed the fire within an hour. The damage (estimated at $750,000) included ...