World Notes THE GERMANYS

On April 5, 1986, an 11-lb. bomb killed two U.S. servicemen and injured 230 people in the La Belle discotheque in West Berlin. Ten days later, blaming Libya, President Reagan ordered a U.S. bombing raid on Tripoli. Yet investigators were never able to prove conclusively that Libya was behind the attack.

Now a joint task force set up by the two Germanys to investigate terrorist activities by East Germany's ousted communist government is also examining a suspected Libyan connection. A Palestinian involved in the bombing is reportedly imprisoned for other charges in West Berlin. The East Germans are said to have granted visas to a known Libyan hit man and his Palestinian accomplices even though they knew the Libyans planned a bombing.

Libyan terrorists were not the only ones welcome. East German Interior Minister Peter-Michael Diestel charged last week that the infamous "Carlos," who was responsible for the 1975 attack on the OPEC ministers in Vienna, was a frequent visitor. Diestel believes he has enough evidence to bring a case soon against former East German leader Erich Honecker for aiding the terrorists.