Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 21, 1994 TAG: 9404210212
SECTION: NATIONAL/INT PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BEIRUT, LEBANON LENGTH: Short
Two Iraqi diplomats already are in police custody, and police want to question two more Iraqis holed up in the embassy. The dispute led Lebanon to sever diplomatic ties with Iraq this week.
All four diplomats are suspected of involvement in the April 12 assassination of Sheik Taleb Ali al-Suheil.
Al-Suheil has been identified as a key figure in a plot to overthrow Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein last year.
On Monday, the government charged that Iraq had ordered the assassination of al-Suheil and cut its ties with Baghdad. Iraq's charge d'affaires, Awad Fakhri, was told Tuesday to close his mission and leave the country in 72 hours.
The Iraqi cultural attache and commercial attache were being held in solitary confinement in Beirut. The government says they confessed to committing the crime under orders from Iraq's intelligence service.
On Wednesday, Iraqi diplomats reportedly vowed to defy the expulsion order and barricade themselves inside unless Lebanon allows the two colleagues in the embassy to leave the country.
by CNB