28 Killed, 100 Wounded by Beirut Shells : Fires Out of Control, Cars Smoldering in Barrage of Artillery

Fires burned out of control and hundreds of shell-smashed cars smoldered today as Christian and Muslim militias unleashed their heaviest artillery barrage on Beirut’s residential neighborhoods in 10 months.

Police said 28 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in 15 hours of relentless bombardment by field artillery, multi-barreled rocket launchers, mortars and tank cannons in and around the capital.

“It is like the doors of hell were all flung open,” said Simon Haj, a taxi driver reached by telephone in the basement of his high-rise apartment building in mostly Muslim West Beirut. “Shells are raining all around us.”

It was the heaviest single overnight toll since the current flare-up of sectarian fighting erupted 11 days ago. The new figures raised the overall known casualties since April 28 to 68 killed and more than 340 injured.

Firefighters Stymied

Police said at least five apartment buildings were gutted by fire in one neighborhood on the embattled Green Line dividing Beirut into Muslim and Christian sections. Shooting prevented fire brigades from moving in to quench the flames, they said.

The Lebanese army called for a “durable cease-fire.” A communique released by the Higher Military Council called upon the three main militias to form a security committee with the army to work out an end to hostilities on all fronts.

The six-member council called for the truce when it met for the second day at the request of President Amin Gemayel, a Christian, and Prime Minister Rashid Karami, a Muslim.

There was no immediate response from the warring factions. None showed any sign of pulling back from their entrenched positions along the three-mile Green Line.

Airport Remains Open

Two shells landed at Beirut airport on the southern edge of the capital during the exchanges overnight, causing material damage but no casualties, police said. The airport remained open to traffic.

The heavy ground fighting on the Green Line suggests that Druze and Shia Muslim allies are trying to overrun the no man’s land at the Green Line Museum Crossing between the two halves of the capital.

Gemayel is proposing that a two-square-mile area around the mid-city crossing be declared a neutral zone controlled by religiously mixed army units.