Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 30, 1994 TAG: 9401300104
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BEIRUT, LEBANON LENGTH: Medium
Police said an assassin with an apparently unarmed accomplice killed Naeb Imran Maaytah as he was driving out of a parking lot near his house in a seaside residential district at 9:30 a.m.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the assassination, and authorities would only speculate on the motive.
The attack marked a blow to efforts to clean up Lebanon's image from the civil war years as a haven for assassins, kidnappers, bombers and hijackers. The government has intensified its campaign to lure foreigners back in the past year, claiming Beirut is safe again.
Prime Minister Rafik Hariri called the assassination of the Jordanian Embassy's first secretary an "ugly crime." Foreign Minister Faris Bweiz and Interior Minister Bishara Merhej contacted Amman separately to promise swift action to arrest the culprit, according to radio stations in Beirut and Jordan.
Witnesses said the gunman, armed with a 9mm pistol and dressed in a gray sweater, approached Maaytah's Mercedes-Benz 500 and pumped at least seven bullets through the driver's window.
Most of the bullets pierced Maaytah's head and neck and he died instantly, police said. The assassin and his accomplice fled.
It was unknown whether Maaytah's murder was linked to the Arab-Israeli peace talks under way in Washington. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the PLO have been negotiating with Israel for the past two years, much to the dissatisfaction of extremists and Muslim fundamentalists.
In Amman, Western diplomats saw a possible link between the assassination and Jordan's recent request that Iran reduce its diplomatic presence. Iran, which has a strong following among Muslim fundamentalists in Lebanon, and Jordan have had strained relations since 1990, when diplomatic ties resumed after a 10-year break.
Maaytah was on his way to the embassy at Sakiet Janzeer, a few minutes' drive away, when he was killed.
"I saw the gunman standing close to the car and firing," said a witness who wanted to be identified only as Ghada.
Howling winds and pouring rain muffled the sound of the shots, said Ghada, who had been looking out a first-floor window overlooking the scene.
Abu Nader, another witness, said he saw the gunman and an accomplice dressed in a black leather jacket and carrying no visible weapons fleeing down a nearby side street that leads into a crowded seaside boulevard. "The assassin was holding the gun high," said Abu Nader, who described the two men as clean-shaven.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB