A bomb Thursday killed the chairman of West Germany's largest bank as he drove to work, and officials said the leftist Red Army Faction terrorist group claimed responsibility.
Deutsche Bank chief Alfred Herrhausen, 59, died in the explosion at about 8:30 a.m. in the affluent Frankfurt suburb of Bad Homburg, where he lived.Chancellor Helmut Kohl, his eyes filled with tears and his voice breaking, condemned the slaying as "a cowardly and brutal murder" and described the influential European financier as a friend and a patriot.
Herrhausen, probably the best-known figure in West Germany's business world, often advised Kohl and frequently accompanied the chancellor on his foreign trips.
The chief federal prosecutor's office said the Red Army Faction, which has carried out numerous terrorist attacks in West Germany, claimed responsibility in a letter found at the scene of the attack. It was the first known Red Army attack in more than three years.
Police officials said the blast lifted Herrhausen's armored BMW into the air, consuming it in a ball of fire.
The Deutsche Bank and the chief federal prosecutor's office said Herrhausen's driver was alive but suffered serious injuries.
The blast was heard as far away as three miles and shattered windows in the vicinity.
Prosecutor's spokesman Hans-Juergen Foerster said it appeared a remote-controlled detonating device set off explosives placed in the car's path. Others speculated that a man on a bicycle may have carried out the attack.
Police said they were searching for a man in a blue jogging suit and cap who fled on foot after the attack.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Siegbert Seitz, said Herrhausen was considered a top target of leftist terrorists because of the investment policies of his bank.
Herrhausen led the Deutsche Bank on an aggressive expansion course aimed at making the institution one of the top 10 or 15 banks in the world.
He urged greater investment in the Soviet Union and other parts of Eastern Europe. Most recently, he had been speaking out in favor of more West German investment in neighboring East Germany.
Herrhausen was the second chairman of a major West German bank to be slain in the last 12 years by the Red Army Faction. Dresdner Bank's Chairman Juergen Ponto was killed by the group in 1977.
Herrhausen joined Deutsche Bank in 1969, became a board member two years later. He was named bank chairman in 1988.
The Deutsche Bank chief was probably West Germany's most influential business figure, sitting on numerous boards of directors, including for the giant Daimler-Benz conglomerate.
The killing stunned business and government leaders throughout Europe.
In Bonn, Free Democratic member of Parliament Wolfgang Weng interrupted a budget debate to denounce "the horrible news" of Herrhausen's death. Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble broke into tears as he told Parliament about Herrhausen's death.
Herrhausen is survived by a wife and two daughters.