Amal Security Chief Ousted
The Shia Muslim Amal militia today dismissed its security chief in a rift in the forces searching for kidnaped U.S. Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins in south Lebanon.
Ousted security chief Mustafa Dirani issued a statement that made no mention of his dismissal, but claimed that Higgins and other U.N. peacekeeping officials in Lebanon were paid by NATO to gather information about terrorists.
Amal said in a terse statement that Dirani was “relieved from his responsibility as head of the central security system.” It did not elaborate.
Higgins, 43, was abducted Feb. 17 near Tyre, 50 miles south of Beirut. He headed an observer group assigned to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, a peacekeeping unit.
The pro-Iranian Organization of the Oppressed on Earth claimed it abducted Higgins and alleged he was a CIA spy.
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