Unknown Group Claims It Murdered French Attache

A previously unknown organization, the Front of Justice and Revenge, claimed responsibility Thursday for the assassination of the French military attache outside that nation’s embassy in Christian East Beirut.

Col. Christian Goutierre, 54, was shot in the head three times at point-blank range by a lone assassin using a silencer-equipped pistol, police said.

Speaking in Arabic, an anonymous caller told a Western news agency in Beirut that the Front of Justice and Revenge was responsible for the “execution of the French military attache.” He said French Premier Jacques Chirac “should know that our next retaliation will be even more terrible.”

In London, a caller saying he was from the “Anti-Imperialist International Brigade” also claimed responsibility for the assassination and warned of more attacks against French targets until France frees Arabs jailed on terrorism charges.

The anti-terrorist branch of Scotland Yard said it has heard of this group but refused further comment.

“All French diplomats will be the targets of our revolutionaries” until Georges Ibrahim Abdallah and other “comrades will be released from French jails,” the caller told a Western news agency’s London bureau.

Abdallah’s release has also been demanded by those who claimed responsibility for a recent series of bombings in Paris.

‘Watch for More Bombs’

“The fate of (French President Francois) Mitterrand and Chirac will be the same as the fate of the French military attache that was shot down by our revolutionaries today in East Beirut,” the caller said. “Watch for more bombs in France and all over the world against French targets.”

In Paris, French Defense Minister Andre Giraud called the assassination “cowardly” and promised punishment for those responsible.

“(Goutierre) was felled in a cowardly attack this morning. He knew the risks involved in carrying out his mission and assumed them to the point of sacrifice,” Giraud said.

Beirut police said that Goutierre had parked his car near the embassy in the elegant Mar Takla suburb of East Beirut and was about to get out when the gunman approached him.

They said the attacker shot Goutierre three times in the head and escaped in a waiting green BMW before guards positioned on the roof of the four-story embassy could react.

Police described the gunman as a tall, dark-complexioned man wearing a white shirt and beige trousers and believed to be in his late 20s. A witness said the killer’s car sped away, followed by another car carrying an accomplice.

The main entrance, protected by concrete blocks and heavily armed Lebanese soldiers and French guards, is only accessible to the ambassador.

Believed Singled Out

A Christian militia source said he believes Goutierre had been carefully singled out for assassination.

“They were professional murderers who knew well the security measures at the embassy as well as Goutierre’s daily schedule,” a security source said.

Goutierre was dead on arrival at the Hotel Dieu hospital in East Beirut, assistant hospital director Assad Sadek said.

Married and the father of three, Goutierre was appointed military attache in Beirut on Oct. 5, 1984.