The New York Times · 10 October 1981

CP-1981-032

P.L.O. AIDE KILLED BY BOMB IN ROME

Group Opposing Arafat Claims Responsibility but Guerrilla Group Accuses C.I.A.

By JOHN KIFNER

Scan 1078 × 1090 pixels

Transcribed from the clipping

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 9 — A member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council and of Al Fatah’s Executive Committee was killed today in an explosion in his Rome hotel room.

Responsibility for the slaying of Majed Abu Shrar was claimed by an organization that is supposedly secretly supported by Syria and that is dedicated to undermining the leadership of Yasir Arafat, who heads both the P.L.O. and Al Fatah, its largest constituent group. In a news conference here, however, Mr.

Arafat’s top associate, Saleh Khalef, who is better known by his code name, Abu Iyad, said the explosion was the work of the American Central Intelligence Agency and of the Israeli intelligence agency. Mr.

Abu Shrar, who headed the P.L.O.’s Unified Information Unit, was registered at the Flora Hotel, overlooking the Via Veneto, under a false name and using an Algerian passport. Palestinian sources said he was in Rome to attend a conference of journalists and writers sympathetic to the Palestinians.

This afternoon, shortly after the explosion — which was believed to have been caused by a booby-trapped telephone — callers to the Reuters bureau in Rome and to news agencies here said the bombing was carried out by Al Assifa, which is the name of the military wing of Al Fatah and also the name used by the Syrian-supported group, which is headed by Abu Nidal.

Abu Nidal broke with Mr. Arafat in the early 1970’s over the issue of Mr. Arafat’s willingness to negotiate with Israel for a limited Palestinian state. Under the protection of the Iraqi Government, he waged for a time the “war of the shadows” in which eight overseas P.L.O. representatives were killed.

The Syrian sponsorship of the organization has strained relations between Mr. Arafat’s associates and Syria, which is the ostensible protector of the Palestinian guerrilla movement in Lebanon. The caller to the Rome Reuters bureau said that Mr.

Abu Shrar had been killed beause he represented “the line of surrender,” and added, “As we killed Abu Shrar, so we shall hit anyone who will try to compromise about the principles of our revolution.”

How this transcription was made

The running head confirms the paper and that the issue was a Saturday, but the numeric date is cut off. With the dateline “BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 9,” the Saturday that follows is 10 October 1981, which matches Maria’s label. I am recording date_confirmed as false because the printed date itself is not on the image; the weekday and the dateline together make the label all but certain. — The visible portion of the story, left and middle columns, ending where the clipping is cut at the foot of the middle column. The story may continue below or on a jump that is not on this scan.

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