![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/50000/images/_51783_damaged_building150.jpg)
![image: [ Emergency workers carry the injured from the blast scene ]](/olmedia/50000/images/_51783_abortion_stretcher300.jpg)
Abortion rights activists say it is the first fatal clinic bombing in US history.
The explosion happened on Thursday morning at the New Women's Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. Nobody has yet claimed responsibility for Thursday's attack.
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms confirmed that the explosion was a bomb.
Fearing a second device could detonate, authorities evacuated students from a nearby university dormitory.
An FBI spokesman said the dead person was an off-duty police officer. The blast blew out windows in the clinic.
Windows of an office building across the street were also shattered.
The blast occured a week after 25th anniversary of the US Supreme Court legalising abortion in 1973. But it has become a contentious issue in the US with Christian fundamentalists wanting to see abortions banned completely.
Recent violence by anti-abortion demonstrators has included the killing of two doctors and a large number of bombings.
A year ago, two bombs went off an hour apart at a clinic in Atlanta injuring six people. That case is unsolved.
Abortion controversy continues to rage in the US
(22 Jan 98 | Special Report)
Violence and the pro-life campaign
(22 Jan 98 | Special Report)
The politics of abortion
(22 Jan 98 | Special Report)
US National Right to Life
US National Abortion Federation
US National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Rift remains over Iraq
Clinton's 'late-night phonecall' to Monica
Nations approve international space station
(From Sci/Tech)
Double murder condemned
Former rebels gain in Sri Lankan elections
Diplomatic options 'exhausted'
Judge excludes Lewinsky from sex suit against Clinton
New Japanese finance minister
(From Business)
Greenspan fears the unexpected over Asian crisis
Yeltsin plans to quit in 2000
St Petersburg favoured for Tsar's burial
The lost legacy of Mahatma Gandhi
The life and death of Mahatma Gandhi
UN staff told to leave homes
Iraq faces massive force build-up
Clinton bounces back
At least 30 killed in Peruvian mudslide
Portuguese opposition meeting postponed