Lebanese Terrorists Say They Will Execute Kidnaped U.S. Official

A terrorist group said today it would execute William Buckley, a U.S. Embassy political officer kidnaped 18 months ago, in retaliation for the Israeli raid on the Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in Tunisia, Lebanon’s leading independent newspaper reported.

Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War) said in a statement that Buckley would be killed after the statement was published. The paper, An Nahar, said it would publish the statement in today’s editions, which had not yet gone to press.

The group did not specify what it meant by publication--whether it meant Buckley would be killed after the statement was distributed or printed.

An envelope containing the statement, and a color instant-camera photograph of Buckley, was delivered to the newspaper’s West Beirut office at 1 a.m. today.

Pale and Drawn

In the picture, Buckley looked pale and drawn and had a beard. He was wearing a gray jogging suit. There was no indication when or where the photo was taken.

Buckley, 57, of Medford, Mass., was kidnaped March 16, 1984, outside his home. He has been in captivity the longest of six Americans kidnaped and believed being held in Beirut.

Islamic Jihad, the Shia Muslim terrorist group which claimed it bombed the headquarters of U.S. Marines and French peacekeepers in Beirut in October, 1982, has said it is holding all six Americans, plus two Frenchmen and a British citizen.

The terrorists have demanded the release of 17 Shias convicted and imprisoned in Kuwait for the December, 1983, terrorist bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait. Three of the 17 have been sentenced to death, and Kuwait has refused to release any of them.

The reported communique was a departure from Islamic Jihad’s previous practice. In the past, the group--which experts believe is one or more tiny cells of terrorists rather than a cohesive political organization--has generally telephoned Western news agencies with its pronouncements.

It was the first statement about the U.S. hostages from the Islamic fundamentalist organization since Sept. 29, when a man claiming to represent Jihad said a deadline had been set for meeting the group’s demands and announced that the captives would hold a news conference.

That statement from someone claiming to represent Islamic Jihad came after the group freed the Rev. Benjamin Weir, 61, a Presbyterian minister and a native of Berkeley, Calif., on Sept. 14. He said his captors had threatened to kill the remaining hostages or kidnap more Americans unless the Reagan Administration met their demands.

In Washington, a State Department official told The Times, “We do not know anything beyond the report.” The official said the department was continuing to check.

Buckley, a bachelor, became a Foreign Service officer in 1983, after 18 years as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army, serving in Washington and Vietnam. He was assigned to Beirut, his first State Department post, in 1983.

The Islamic Jihad statement said, “We are responsible for the blood of Muslims in every part of the world, and we understand that America and Israel are responsible for the killing of Muslims in Tunisia.”

It declared: “Therefore, we declare that in revenge for the blood of our martyrs, we announce the execution of the resident American agent in the Middle East and the first political officer at the American Embassy in Beirut, William Buckley, right after the publication of this statement.”

Statement Blames CIA

The statement declared that “beyond any doubt” the Israeli raid “was carried out and planned jointly by the United States and Israel under the supervision of American Intelligence (CIA).

“The Israeli warplanes were supplied with fuel from American warships in the Mediterranean.”

The United States has denied any advance knowledge of the Israeli raid.

Meanwhile, Syria reportedly intervened Thursday and mediated a peace plan to stop a bloody battle between rival Muslim militias in Tripoli, a move that may affect the fate of three Soviets held hostage in Beirut.

Muslim fundamentalists who kidnaped four Soviet Embassy officials in Beirut on Monday and executed one of them the next day have demanded that Moscow put pressure on Syria, its closest Mideast ally, to stop the battle between pro-Syrian and fundamentalist Sunni Muslim forces.

The captors threatened to execute the surviving Soviet hostages unless Syria, which controls the Tripoli area, brings an end to the fighting.