Shell Barrage Sets Jetliner Afire at Beirut : Aircraft Destroyed; Attack Stirs Artillery Duel That Kills Five

BEIRUT —  A barrage of shellfire set a parked jetliner ablaze at Beirut’s airport today, forcing a shutdown in operations and sparking an artillery duel between Muslim and Christian militias that left five civilians dead

An airport employee was injured in the bombardment, and the airport was closed after the 45-minute attack.

The shelling came a day after former President Camille Chamoun, now finance minister, was wounded in an assassination attempt. (Story on Page 5.)

In today’s airport bombardment, at least nine shells exploded on runways and the tarmac. Travelers in the terminal were ordered to take cover in the airport’s underground bomb shelters or leave the complex.

Police said the burning aircraft was a Boeing 707 belonging to Middle East Airlines, Lebanon’s national carrier.

Plane Being Refueled

The plane had landed 30 minutes before the shelling started, airport officials said. Its 80 passengers had disembarked, and the plane was being refueled for a flight to Cairo when a shell hit and it exploded into a ball of flames.

Firefighters extinguished the flames, but the plane was destroyed, reporters on the scene said. Other small fires on the tarmac and in the airport’s fuel depot were quickly contained.

The control tower diverted incoming flights to other Middle East airports, police said. They said an airport employee was injured, but gave no details.

“We cannot tell yet whether this is an attempt by whoever did the shelling to close down the airport, or it’s merely a warning,” an airport official said.

Christian-controlled radio stations claimed that the shelling came from the area of Chemlan, a Druze Muslim town eight miles south of the airport, where Druze and Palestinian fighters maintain artillery positions.

Muslims Blame Christians

But Muslim-controlled radio stations blamed Christian units of the Lebanese army, saying the shells came from bluffs around Amin Gemayel’s hilltop palace in Baabda, about 2 1/2 miles east of the airport.

Reliable sources said the shells came from the southeast and most likely were fired by Palestinian guerrillas who are fighting the Shia Muslim Amal militia, which control the airport.

The airport bombardment touched off militia artillery duels across the Green Line that divides Beirut’s Muslim and Christian sectors.

Police said one salvo struck a public bus, killing five passengers and wounding 13, all of them Christians. Other shells landed near the presidential palace.

Sources said they did not believe that the airport shelling was linked to the attempted assassination of Chamoun, the fourth attempt on his life in 19 years.