Attempt to shoot U.S. diplomat linked with Libya
NZPA-Reuter Paris The United States has suggested that Libya was behind an assassination attempt on Thursday on the acting American Ambassador in Paris, but Libya rejected the charge as a childish fantasy. Christian Chapman who is American charge d'affairs, dived behind his car as ther gunmen fired six shots at him outside his Paris home. Mr Chapman, who was unhurt, described his assailant as “very much a Middle Eastern type.’’ The Secretary of State (Mr Alexander Haig) told a congressional committee in Washington later that he had no information other than that Mr Chapman’s attacker looked like an Arab.
“But we do have repeated reports that Gadaffi (the Libyan leader) has been funding. sponsoring, paying, and harbouring terrorist groups to conduct activities against the lives and well-being of American diplomats and facilities,” Mr Haig said. In a telexed message to NZPA-Reuter in London the
Libyan news agency. Jana described Mr Haig’s statement as "insolent in the extreme."
Jana quoted an official source as saying the statement confirmed Washington’s "wild imagination” in fabricating accusations and imagining alleged acts by Libya. "Such fantasy and imagination cannot but come from children who are the farthest from any sense of responsibility or appreciation,” the agency said.
American officials believe the Libyans want revenge for the downing of two of their fighters by American planes over the Mediterranean last August. State Department officials in Washington acknowledged that Maxwell Rabb, the United States Ambassador to Italy, had been recalled from Rome after the Italian police reported that a Libyan squad planned an attack against his life. Security had been tightened al other United States embassies in Europe they added.
A White House statement said the attempt on Mr Chapman "dramatises the need for the international community to work together to combat incidents of this type that plague us all." Mr Chapman, who is 60. told reporters he ducked behind his bullet proof limousine to dodge the bullets. Two hit the car.
The diplomat who was born in France and served in the Free French Air Force in World War Two, said his attacker walked away briskly after apparently emptying his revolver. One passer-by attempted to pursue the gunman, who had “a black beard, black hair, jet-black eyes, big eyes." Mr Chapman said. “He was very handsome and very much a Middle East type.” Mr Chapman, who recently refused a French offer of a police guard, after reporting that he had recieved threats, told reporters he had no idea who his assailant was but he said the embassy had recently been put in a state of heightened security.
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Press, 14 November 1981, Page 9
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439Attempt to shoot U.S. diplomat linked with Libya Press, 14 November 1981, Page 9
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