Another American Seized in Beirut by Islamic Jihad : First Such Kidnaping in 15 Months

An American who runs a private school in Beirut was kidnaped by two armed men while on his way to play golf today, and a caller claimed responsibility in the name of the Shia Muslim group Islamic Jihad.

It was the first kidnaping of an American in Lebanon in 15 months.

The U.S. Embassy identified the victim as Frank Herbert Reed, 53, of Malden, Mass., director of the Lebanese International School in Muslim West Beirut.

A school associate said Reed has lived in Lebanon about eight years and had converted to Islam before marrying Sahmiya Dalati, a Syrian. The associate, who insisted on anonymity, said the couple have a 5-year old son, Tareq.

A spate of politically motivated kidnapings in West Beirut in 1985 prompted most Americans and other Westerners to leave the city.

3 Other Hostages

Islamic Jihad, which espouses the fundamentalist teachings of Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has said it holds at least three other American hostages.

At the State Department in Washington, spokesman Bernard Kalb said: “We call on those who may be holding Mr. Reed as well as the other foreign hostages in Lebanon to release their captives immediately. We remind them further that we hold them responsible for the well-being of their captives.”

Police quoted family friends as saying Reed was kidnaped at 11:15 a.m. near the ruins of a supermarket in West Beirut’s Bir Hassan district while driving from his home to play golf at the city’s outskirts.

Gunmen in a dark blue Volvo intercepted Reed’s car a few hundred yards from the headquarters of Syrian intelligence officers supervising a security plan for West Beirut, police said.

Espionage Claimed

An anonymous caller claiming to speak for Islamic Jihad claimed in a call to a Western news agency that Reed was a CIA spy and that “documents convicting him” were found on him.

“We found out that his educational mission was a mere disguise for his espionage efforts,” the caller said.

“We have uncovered the game of Reed who thought that by converting to Islam he will be able to mislead the true Muslims who . . . will punish all those involved (in the game),” the caller said.

An editor at the news agency said the caller, who spoke in Lebanese-accented Arabic, hung up after reading the statement.

An acquaintance said Reed has been the director of the Lebanese International School for the last four years. He said Reed has been in Lebanon since 1977 and headed the elementary school of the International College, which is affiliated with the American University of Beirut, until 1982.

One of Triplet Brothers

A family member in the United States said Reed, one of triplet brothers, had lived in Malden, Mass., and had been a principal at a school in Whitefield, N.H.

Other American hostages held by Islamic Jihad are Terry A. Anderson, 38, of Lorain, Ohio, chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press; David Jacobsen, 55, of Huntington Beach, Calif., director of the American University Hospital, and Thomas Sutherland, 55, of Fort Collins, Colo., acting dean of the university’s agriculture faculty.

Islamic Jihad said last fall that it had killed another American hostage, U.S. Embassy political officer William Buckley, 58, but no body was ever found. Buckley was kidnaped March 16, 1984.

In return for freedom for the hostages, the group has demanded that the U.S. government pressure the Kuwaiti regime into freeing 17 comrades imprisoned in Kuwaiti jails for a series of bombings against U.S., French and Kuwaiti targets in the oil-rich sheikdom.

The group also claims that it holds three French hostages.