Smoke bombs halt workday at offices

Smoke bombings in two Seattle high-rises yesterday had all the markings of a London-based animal-rights group that targets a British research firm, its American wing and any company that does business with it, say experts and employees of an insurance company that has been a repeated target of the group.

Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske called the bombings domestic terrorism and said the targets appear to have been insurance companies whose clients do research involving animal testing.

Marsh, a multinational insurance and risk-management company that has offices in both buildings, appears to have been the target of the attacks.

The animal-rights group, the British-based Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty or SHAC, denies a connection to the bombings, although it applauded them.

The attacks were described as well-planned and well-timed and occurred within two minutes of each other.

Shortly after 9:30 a.m., approximately 700 people in the Financial Center, Fourth Avenue and Seneca Street, were told to leave the building when what authorities called a military-type smoke bomb was found on the 23rd floor.

Floors 18 to 27 were evacuated first in the Financial Center, but a short time later all employees were told to leave the building.

Seattle Fire Chief Gary Morris said the risk of fire was high from what he called incendiary devices.

John Miller of UNICO Properties, which manages one of the buildings, said he was told by fire officials that a canister found on the 23rd floor had a message which read: "Evacuate the building."

Two minutes earlier, a similar smoke device was set off on the 20th floor of a building at Seventh Avenue and Pike Street, forcing the evacuation of two floors there.

Rufo Calvo, one of the many office workers evacuated, said the evacuation was orderly, but he was upset in light of Sept. 11 and terrorist attacks. "It scares me," Calvo said.

Yesterday, employees of Marsh said company communiqués confirmed that the firm's Seattle offices were the targets of the smoke attacks. The employees spoke on condition of anonymity.

A spokesman for Marsh couldn't be reached yesterday at the company's New York headquarters.

Yesterday, SHAC denied responsibility on its Web site.

"Although we do support direct action, as long as it doesn't hurt any animal, human or nonhuman, we do not engage in, organize or fund such actions," the Web site said. "However, we do applaud those brave enough to do so."

The Web site also trumpeted the smoke bombings as having the Marsh operations "smoked out of their holes."

Those familiar with SHAC say that despite their claims to the contrary, the organization is known to promote attacks on facilities all over the world.

The group's primary opponent, Huntingdon Life Sciences, is a British company that does bio-medical research, including animal testing. It has a lab in New Jersey and is reportedly moving all its business operations to the United States.

According to the SHAC Web site, the group also targets any company affiliated with Huntingdon, including Marsh because it insures Huntingdon. The Web site lists the addresses and phone numbers of Marsh offices worldwide and lists the names and home addresses of Marsh executives.

SHAC claims to maintain offices in Philadelphia, San Francisco and New Jersey.

The goal appears to be pressuring companies to stop doing business with Huntingdon and to discourage investors, according to the group's online literature. SHAC claims credit for several large investors pulling out of Huntingdon.

One Marsh employee, who asked not to be identified, said Marsh has had similar incidents at several of its offices worldwide.

On Monday, according to The Independent newspaper of London, members of SHAC pitched tents in a field near a Marsh director's home in Kent, England, and hung banners with the man's name and address.

In Chicago, Marsh has sought restraining orders against alleged members of SHAC, alleging harassment and intimidation from vandalism to threats. One Marsh executive got a letter that said Marsh had been targeted for "terrorist attack" and if the company stopped doing business with Huntingdon, "you, your business, and your family will be spared great hassle and humility."

In New Jersey last year, Huntingdon filed a similar suit against SHAC, but it apparently has been withdrawn.

Yesterday's smoke-bombings were "very typical of SHAC's operations," said Susan Adler, the executive director of the Washington Association for Biomedical Research in Seattle, a trade group that represents about 60 companies and academic-research groups.

"Their objective is to basically stop the research and shut down Huntingdon," Adler said. "But the difference with SHAC is that they're actually destroying property and seriously intimidating people. It's forcing money that should be spent on our research to be diverted to being spent on security."

Adler said SHAC's tactics are on par with another activist group, the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an Oregon-based environmental-activist group.

In May 2001, the ELF claimed responsibility for an arson that destroyed the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture in protest of genetic research on trees.

The blaze caused about $5 million in damage. No one has been caught in connection with the fire.

"This is real serious terrorist stuff," Adler said. "Fortunately, so far nobody has been hurt, but I think it's only a matter of time."