15 Killed as Brief Beirut Truce Ends

Intense artillery and rocket fire shattered a brief Christian-Muslim militia truce today, killing at least 15 people and pushing the death toll in three days of sectarian bloodshed to 93.

The undeclared truce lasted only four hours. The bombardment resumed at 10 a.m., jeopardizing plans to convene a Cabinet meeting Thursday to discuss ways of ending the factional fighting that police say has left 261 people dead and 858 wounded in Lebanon over the last 10 days.

Christian and Muslim militia radio stations repeatedly interrupted their programs to warn residents of “the barbaric shelling.” Police reports said 83 people were wounded in today’s bombardment.

At least 33 were killed and 140 wounded by shells that battered Beirut and the surrounding area Monday and Tuesday. Another 45 people were killed and 90 were wounded by a car bomb that exploded Tuesday in Tripoli. (Story, Page 10.)

Police sources said initial estimates indicate that more than 2,500 homes and apartments and at least 1,200 cars have been hit by shelling in the last few days of militia fighting.

Christian militia sources said more than 12,000 rockets, mortars, tank shells and missiles were fired into the Christian areas of Beirut and villages north and northeast of the capital.

They said at least 75 shells crashed around the East Beirut suburban home of U.S. Ambassador Reginald Bartholomew and at least 338 around the nearby Baabda Palace of President Amin Gemayel.

It was not known if Bartholomew or Gemayel were at their residences during the bombardment.

The intensity of the bombardment began easing at dawn today, though there was no formal cease-fire agreement between the warring factions, police and militia sources said.

The four-hour lull allowed government officials to intensify contacts in a bid to end the violence and to make plans for a Cabinet meeting Thursday. But the renewed shelling raised doubts about whether the Cabinet could meet.