Iraq Said to Down Air Show Guest

The Iraqi government invited Egypt to fly its home-built Alpha fighter bomber to Baghdad last week for an air show, only to shoot down the Egyptian plane as it descended to land in Iraq’s capital, Administration officials disclosed Thursday.

Secret intelligence reports making the rounds of U.S. government offices say that the Egyptian jet was shot down by a shoulder-fired missile, apparently because some Iraqi soldier failed to get word that the plane was an invited guest.

The two Egyptian fliers in the Alpha jet ejected safely, according to the reports.

The anti-aircraft weapon that downed the Alpha was likely a Soviet-built missile that homes in on the heat of a plane’s engines and explodes on impact, officials said.

Col. Ahmed Zaki, assistant military attache at the Egyptian Embassy in Washington, said he knew there was an international air show in Baghdad but had no information about the reported downing. Iraqi military officials could not be reached for comment.

In an earlier case of mistaken identity or a breakdown in communications, an Iraqi pilot flying a Mirage F-1 fighter bomber on May 17, 1987, shot two Exocet missiles into the U.S. frigate Stark, killing 37 sailors during the Iran-Iraq War. Iraq said the pilot mistook the ship for an Iranian vessel.

The Alpha was developed by French and West German aircraft firms. Egypt buys Alpha kits from France and assembles them in a plant south of Cairo.