The Argentine attorney general's office has created a special unit of prosecutors to probe the 1994 bombing of the Jewish cultural center AMIA in Buenos Aires, after 10 years of investigations and a lengthy trial failed to produce any convictions. The special unit's sole objective will be to bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack that destroyed the 7-story building, killing 85 and wounding more than 200. The investigation into the attack, which was allegedly financed by Iranian officials and carried out by Hezbollah terrorists, and the trial itself were plagued by mistakes and irregularities. An official told the Spanish news agency EFE that the special unit will also investigate the so-called "local connection" behind the attack, as well as the irregularities in the court proceedings. The unit will comprise some 20 people and be headed by two federal prosecutors. It will begin working as soon as the government authorizes the budget for its operations. The official said that there would be no deadlines. The creation of a special prosecutors' unit was among the first ideas proposed by President Nestor Kirchner's administration following the recent court ruling that acquitted all 22 persons charged in connection with the attack.
