Attack Kills 20 Israelis, Lebanese Say : Troops Searching for 2 Captured Comrades Ambushed

Muslim guerrillas today attacked Israeli forces searching southern Lebanon for two captured comrades and killed as many as 20 Israelis, Shia Muslim radio reported.

Loudspeaker vans toured Beirut’s southern suburbs, claiming Muslim extremists had “executed” one of the two Israeli soldiers seized in southern Lebanon on Monday.

Guerrillas today ambushed part of the 1,200-man Israeli force that poured into Lebanon in search of the two, striking just south of Srifa, 15 miles north of the Israeli border, with machine-guns and rocket grenades.

“There is a real battle going on,” said Timur Goksel, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon. “The Israelis are using tanks, artillery and firing into the village from helicopter gunships and are themselves coming under fire.”

Copter Brought Down

Daoud Daoud, southern commander for the Shia Muslim Amal militia, claimed Amal gunmen downed an Israeli helicopter at Srifa. Amal-run Beirut radio said “20 Israelis were wiped out” in the attack but gave no Amal casualties.

From the village of Kfar Dounine three miles to the south, black smoke could be seen billowing above Srifa. Explosions and machine-gun volleys thundered across a valley from the more than one hour of battle.

Goksel said he had no immediate casualty reports and was unable to contact a contingent of Finnish peacekeepers who man a post in the village. Some Lebanese security sources said the Finns had been forced to flee.

Goksel said 20 mortars were fired over the heads of another group of Ghanaian peacekeepers during the night, damaging some buildings but causing no casualties.

Reporters Turned Back

The battle at Srifa was the fiercest since the Israeli sweep started Monday. Reporters who tried to reach Srifa were stopped by the Israelis, who raided eight more villages today.

In mostly Muslim West Beirut, unidentified gunmen on motorcycles intercepted a car carrying a member of the Lebanese Communist Party’s Politburo, pumping eight bullets into him and wounding his brother.

Police said Communist Party official Khalil Naaous, 50, died instantly in the latest of a string of killings and abductions of the party’s members since the Shia Muslim Amal militia started a crackdown on communist activities in southern Lebanon.

A telephone caller claiming to speak for the Islamic Resistance movement told a newspaper and radio station in Beirut that one of the two Israeli prisoners “was executed” Wednesday because of the continued Israeli search.

Loudspeaker vans toured Beirut’s strongly Shia southern suburbs today blaring a recording of the statement. The caller said details of the killing would be released later.