Afghan Rebels Said to Down 24 Aircraft

Afghan rebels have destroyed 14 Soviet and Afghan aircraft during the last 11 days, bringing to 24 the number of aircraft downed by the guerrillas in March, Western diplomats said Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government claimed Tuesday that a plane shot down Monday by Pakistani jet fighters was a civilian airliner with 40 people aboard. It did not say what happened to them.

The Afghan government radio, in a broadcast monitored in Islamabad, Pakistan, said the Soviet-built Antonov 26 passenger plane of the state airline was hit over Afghan territory while on a flight to the Afghan border town of Khost from the capital of Kabul.

Pakistan on Monday described the downed plane as an Afghan air force military plane believed equipped for reconnaissance missions. It said two Pakistani air force F-16s shot it down over the Pakistani border town of Parachinar. Pakistani officials say at least 152 people have been killed in Afghan air attacks along the border since March 23.

Two diplomats, who gave separate briefings on the Afghan aircraft toll on the condition they not be identified, also said that two staff members at the Soviet Embassy in Kabul disappeared last week, possibly defecting to Afghan resistance forces.

The diplomats’ reports could not be independently verified. Western journalists rarely have been allowed to enter Afghanistan since the Soviet Union invaded in December, 1979, to support a Communist government beset by internal dissent and a Muslim insurgency.

Western analysts estimate Moscow has deployed about 115,000 troops in Afghanistan to help the government battle rebels backed by the United States, China, Iran and Pakistan.

The diplomats, who earlier reported that rebels downed 10 planes during the first half of March, said guerrillas shot down at least 14 Soviet and Afghan aircraft in the last 11 days.

Using U.S. Missiles

They gave no details on how the craft were destroyed, but rebels reportedly have been using portable, U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

They said that on March 20, rebels downed two Soviet helicopters over Sorubi, 45 miles east of Kabul, killing six to eight crew members.

The diplomats reported that rebels hit two jets and two helicopters near Bagram, about 40 miles northeast of Kabul, during the third week of March.

“Kabul radio announced the death of four pilots, apparently referring to the shooting down of the aircraft in the Bagram area,” one diplomat said.

The diplomats said at least eight other aircraft were shot down in separate incidents across the provinces of Kandahar, Paktia and Parwan in the past 10 days.