BOMB INJURES U.S. EMPLOYEE, WIFE : TRUCK BLAST FOLLOWS THREAT; CALLER MENTIONS SUSPECT IN OKLAHOMA CASE.

Byline: Julian Guthrie San Francisco Examiner 

A federal employee and his wife were seriously injured when a bomb exploded in his truck just hours after colleagues in his office in Vacaville received a phone call from a man who said, ``You guys are all dead. Tim McVeigh lives on.''

Gene Ainslie of Sacramento, a mine inspector for the U.S. Labor Department, and his wife, Rita, were driving on Interstate 80 near Vacaville, at about 4:30 p.m. Friday when the bomb went off in their pickup, according to Fred Hansen, Western district manager for the Mine Safety and Health Division.

Ainslie lost control of the truck and crashed into the center divider, according to the California Highway Patrol. He and his wife were able to climb out of the truck before it burned, but both were seriously injured.

Ainslie, 56, suffered shrapnel wounds to his legs. He is in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Kaiser Medical Center in Vallejo. His wife, Rita, 57, was more seriously injured, with cuts, burns, a broken right ankle and a dislocated left hip. She was listed in fair but stable condition at North Bay Medical Center in Fairfield, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Hansen said that Ainslie, who had been out in the field for several days inspecting mines, was not in the Vacaville office when the threatening call came in at 8:52 a.m. Friday.

Terrorism experts have warned that the anniversary of last year's bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building on April 19 could prompt additional attacks, and the unidentified male caller's reference to bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh was taken seriously, Hansen said.

Most of the office's 17 employees were sent home after the threat, but Ainslie stayed at work after arriving at the office at about 11 a.m.

Ainslie had been driving a government car all week during a round of inspections and had left his pickup parked outside of his daughter's Vacaville home, police said.

The explosive, described as a pipe bomb, was apparently located beneath the passenger's seat, investigators said.

Ainslie spent at least five years working in mines before becoming a federal inspector about 13 years ago, Hansen said. Now he inspects working conditions, most recently at an underground gold mine in Sierra County. That inspection was fairly routine and noncontroversial, Hansen said.

``There's just no reason why Gene would be singled out,'' Hansen said. ``All the inspectors have the same job. They're all out inspecting mines.''