The World - News from June 27, 1988

An apparent attack by Afghan guerrillas at the Kabul airport destroyed eight Soviet Su-25 jet fighters in one of the largest Soviet air losses of the war in Afghanistan, a Western diplomat said in Islamabad, Pakistan. There was no indication whether there were casualties in the incident. The diplomat said that incoming guerrilla rockets may have struck one aircraft, causing the other planes to go up “one after the other.” He said secondary explosions and blue and white smoke from the fire suggested there was ammunition aboard at least one aircraft. The Western diplomat also said that earlier this month, U.S.-backed guerrillas shot down an Afghan military transport plane near the garrison of Khost, about 100 miles southeast of Kabul, killing at least 30 soldiers.