The World : Frenchman Slain in Beirut

Assailants firing automatic pistols from a car killed a Frenchman, identified by Parisian sources as a member of the French secret service, as he drove in Christian East Beirut. Police identified the slain man as Jacques Meurant, 27. He was the fifth French citizen killed in Lebanon in five months. The French Foreign Ministry said he was a “commercial agent” and was in Lebanon on business. A French news agency, however, quoted unidentified sources in Paris as saying the victim worked for the French secret service and that his real name was Merrin. A Lebanese militia source said the slain man had just left a meeting and was carrying a file of documents, which were not found at the scene. No group has claimed responsibility.