Israeli Jet Shot Down in Lebanon Raid; Pilot Seized

A missile destroyed an Israeli warplane during raids on Palestinian guerrilla bases near this ancient port today, the day after a bloody grenade attack in Jerusalem.

Journalists saw the plane explode after the missile struck and crash into a valley four miles southeast of Sidon, and some reporters said the wreckage still smoldered 90 minutes later. One of the two pilots was reported taken prisoner and the other was reported killed.

It was the first Israeli plane lost over Lebanon in three years.

Beirut radio said Israeli troops landed in the region to look for the crew.

4 Killed in Camp

Independent confirmation of the Israeli troop landing was not immediately available, but state-owned Beirut radio said the Israelis were looking for the two airmen in the Sidon region.

State-run Beirut radio said bombs and rockets killed four people and wounded 10 at the Mieh Mieh Palestinian refugee camp on the city’s southeastern outskirts.

Israel’s military command still had not commented hours later either on the 40-minute attack on Palestinian targets or the loss of the U.S.-built Phantom F-4E.

A Shia Muslim militia commander said the two pilots bailed out and landed in an olive grove, one alive and one dead. Abu Jamil Ghaddar of the Amal militia said the survivor was captured in the grove between Siroubieh and Anqoun, suburbs of this city 25 miles south of Beirut.

Shoulder-Fired Rocket

Guerrillas brought the Phantom down with a shoulder-fired Soviet Strella missile at 4:25 p.m., 35 minutes after the onset of Israel’s 13th air attack into Lebanon this year, a police spokesman said.

Witnesses said four jets, Phantoms and Israeli-built Kfirs, flew in from the Mediterranean and made three bomb and rocket runs on the guerrilla positions starting at 3:50 p.m.

Israeli pilots released red balloons to deflect the scores of Strellas that streaked toward them.

Black smoke hung over Mieh Mieh. Fire engines and ambulances raced in from Sidon and Ein el-Hilweh, another Palestinian camp nearby.

Area Strafed Later

More jets arrived just before nightfall and strafed the area where the pilots landed. Ghaddar said five of his militiamen were wounded.

The warplanes hit Mieh Mieh less than 24 hours after two grenades were hurled into a crowd of Israeli army recruits and their families near the sacred Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, killing one person and wounding 70.