BILL CLINTON and Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, joined thousands yesterday to mark the tenth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, at the time the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.

On a day that the FBI issued a warning about the continuing threat posed by domestic American extremists, Oklahoma City fell silent at 9.02am, the exact moment that the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was destroyed by a massive fertiliser-based bomb that killed 168 people, the work of an American army veteran with a hatred for his own government.

As more than 1,600 people inside Oklahoma City’s First United Methodist Church remained silent for 168 seconds, thousands outside bowed their heads next to the 168 empty bronze chairs that stand on the site of the old federal building.

Nineteen of the chairs are tiny, with many covered in teddy bears, testament to the 19 children killed on a day that has been eclipsed by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, an atrocity that has largely turned the nation’s focus, and its law enforcement and intelligence officials, to foreign threats.

Until the horror of that morning on April 19, 1995, few Americans could have imagined that fellow countrymen were capable of such an act of mass murder. Initially, suspicion fell on Arab terrorists. Two years earlier, nine Muslim extremists had tried to blow up the World Trade Centre in New York.

Within 24 hours police had arrested two men: Timothy McVeigh, an army veteran, and Terry Nichols, his accomplice, both far-right, anti-government extremists. McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, was executed in June 2001. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without parole last year.

Mr Clinton, President when the bombing occurred, said at the memorial service that “by the grace of God, time takes its toll not only on youth and beauty, but also on tragedy. The tomorrows come almost against our will. And they bring healing and hope, new responsibilities and new possibilities.”

Although the number of violent anti-government militia and radical-right groups has dropped dramatically since the Oklahoma attack, a leaked FBI report revealed that nearly two dozen “domestic terror” groups, many that view McVeigh as a hero, are under investigation.

The report was combined with warnings from government officials and terrorism analysts that it is only a matter of time before the United States is struck by another attack carried out by domestic terrorists.

According to the FBI report, the National Alliance, one of the largest neo-Nazi organisations in the world, is subject to 51 federal investigations alone.

Also under surveillance are members of the Aryan Nations and other white supremacist groups responsible for fire-bombings and murders.

Brian Levin, an analyst of the domestic terrorist threat, said: “There are ticking time bombs, who have the capacity, skill and hatred to carry out acts worse that what Timothy McVeigh carried out ten years ago.”

TERRORIST TOLL

Timothy McVeigh was executed for bomb; Terry Nichols was jailed for life

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