Sixth American Kidnaped by Gunmen in West Beirut : Hospital Director Former Resident of Orange County

BEIRUT —  Gunmen kidnaped the American director of the American University Hospital today as he walked to work in Muslim West Beirut, a university spokesman said.

David P. Jacobsen, 54, of Huntington Beach, Calif., became the sixth American abducted in the Lebanese capital since March, 1984.

There was no claim of responsibility for the abduction. Islamic Jihad (Holy War), a shadowy extremist Shia Muslim group with links to Iran, has claimed responsibility for the other kidnapings.

Jacobsen was walking from the American University of Beirut campus, where he lives, to the hospital complex a block away when he was abducted at gunpoint, the university spokesman said.

Robert Barry, New York spokesman for the university, confirmed that Jacobsen was kidnaped as he left his apartment for the hospital. The buildings are adjacent, but Jacobsen had to cross the public street to reach the hospital entrance, Barry said.

Climbed Out of Van

One witness said the six kidnapers climbed out of a blue van as Jacobsen emerged from a gate.

They fired one pistol shot at the feet of an unidentified doctor who was walking with Jacobsen at about 8 a.m., the witness said.

He said Jacobsen told the gunmen in broken Arabic: “OK, I’ll go, I’ll go.” Jacobsen then stepped into the back seat of the van with the gunmen and it sped away, the witness added.

In Washington, a State Department spokesman said: “We can confirm that the kidnaping took place and the man was in fact David Jacobsen. We have no further comment at this time.”

Jacobsen was appointed director of the university hospital last November, Barry said. He had worked in Saudi Arabia for National Medical Enterprises of Santa Monica, Calif., before his Beirut assignment and has two sons and a daughter living in the United States, Barry said. Jacobsen is divorced.

He was educated at UCLA and worked as an administrator and consultant at Alhambra Community Hospital, in Alhambra, Calif., from 1973 to 1981, according to Barry.

Palestinian Counterattack

Meanwhile today, Palestinian guerrillas backed by a rocket barrage from the hills east of Beirut counterattacked the Shia Muslim militiamen who have besieged the city’s refugee camps.

Police said 20 people were killed and 62 wounded, raising the nine-day casualty toll to at least 389 dead and 1,755 wounded.

Shia and Palestinian spokesmen said the Palestinians recaptured a nursing home complex on the edge of the Sabra camp. The counterattack followed a two-day lull in the fighting.

A Shia official claimed that 20 of their fighters had been drugged and slaughtered inside the nursing home, but Palestinians accused Shia militiamen and the Lebanese army of committing “atrocious massacres” in the besieged camps.

The leftist daily newspaper, As Safir, which is close to the Shia Muslim militia Amal, said today that Amal’s offensive will go on until the guerrillas in the camps have been disarmed. Amal seeks to prevent the Palestine Liberation Organization from re-establishing itself in Beirut.

Palestinian spokesmen have claimed that the Shias massacred hundreds of wounded Palestinians and civilians during fighting in the three camps, but there has been no independent confirmation.