Research facility burned by radicals

WARREN, Pa. (AP) -- A radical environmental group has claimed responsibility for a fire that destroyed the U.S. Forest Service Research Station at Irvine.

The Earth Liberation Front said it was responsible for causing about $700,000 in damage to the federal facility Aug. 11 in an e-mail to the Warren Times Observer on Sunday night.

The group said it would target the facility again if it is rebuilt. All other U.S. Forest Service administration and research facilities "should now be considered likely targets," the message said.

The e-mail was being examined by Pennsylvania State Police and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The fire in Warren County is not the first crime linked to the ELF. Over the past six years, the group has claimed responsibility for several acts of destruction, many of them arsons, against federal facilities around the country.