Israel Hits Abu Nidal Base Near Sidon

Israeli jets bombed Palestinian targets on the outskirts of Sidon for the second straight day Thursday, hitting a base of Abu Nidal’s guerrilla faction.

Police said nine people were killed and five wounded in the raid, the third this week near the port city 25 miles south of Beirut.

Police said most of the casualties were members of Nidal’s Revolutionary Council of Fatah, and the group issued a statement pledging “merciless retaliation.”

A police spokesman described the attack as “very fierce.” He said six Israeli warplanes dropped 30 bombs in six sorties within 55 minutes.

Lebanese Premier Salim Hoss instructed the country’s U.N. ambassador, Rashid Fakhoury, to complain to the world body about the Israeli attacks, state radio said. But Lebanon did not ask for a Security Council meeting on the issue, it said.

The police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the main target of the raid was Nidal’s guerrilla base, but the jets also hit a position of the Marxist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The police spokesman said Nidal’s guerrillas cordoned off the bases in a number of villages on the southern and eastern edges of Sidon.

The attacking jets dropped scarlet balloons to deflect heat-seeking missiles while the guerrillas fired at the roaring jets with Soviet-made anti-aircraft guns. No hits were reported.