The World - News from Feb. 6, 1986
A Muslim fundamentalist militia released six U.N. peacekeeping troops hours after announcing that it had shot down their helicopter “by mistake” in southern Lebanon. The Islamic Coalition movement identified the U.N. personnel as three Italians pilots plus two Finns and a Swede, and it said the aircraft was mistaken for one belonging to the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army. The Islamic Coalition, a Sunni Muslim force, is part of a Syrian-sponsored alliance of leftist and Muslim factions opposed to the South Lebanon Army, a predominantly Christian militia.
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