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Show Tbe Salt Lake Trlbant, Diplomats Say Cousin Died Trying to Kill Khadafy TRIPOLI, Libya (UPI) A cousin of Col. Moammar Khadafy, unhappy about the countrys economic problems, tried to kill the Libyan leader two months ago but was gunned down in Khadafy's barracks, Western diplomats said Tuesday. Col. Hassan Eshqal, the governor of Siirt province and a member of Khadafy's Qadafodam tribe, was shot to death Nov. 23, 1985, in a hail of bullets some of which might have been fired by Khadafy himself, the diplomats said The assassination attempt reflected the growing dissatisfaction within the armed forces over Khadafys economic policies and his failure to mold Libyas diverse tribes into a unified nation, the diplomats said. The divisions within Libya's military were illustrated at Eshqal's funeratal, which Abu Bakr Yums Jaber, armed forces commander-in-chief- , tended despite Khadafy's order that the service be ignored and held without military honors. Eshqals death was officially blamed on a car accident. But diplomats quoted hospital sources as saying he was taken to a clinic with six bullet wounds. The diplomats said Khadafy was tipped off to the plot. He did not believe Eshqal would try to kill him but as a precaution, placed security agents with submachine guns behind a curtain in the office where he met the colonel. By Aly Mahmoud Associated Press Writer Rebel MANAMA, Bahrain in Marxist militiamen and troops South Yemen advanced on the presidential palace behind tanks Tuesday in the capital city of Aden, Persian Gulf sources reported. They said earlier that President All Nasser Mohammed was badly wounded. - Gulf-baseshipping executives said Mohammed was hospitalized folassassination Monlowing a would-ba against his coup attempt day during Marxist regime by leaders of a more radical Marxist faction closely tied to the Soviet Union. d e Reports reaching London from told of unidentified planes bombing Aden airport Tuesday and of Aden of 4 Reported Executed in Coup Try Was Architect of Bond With Moscow Mohammed, while loyal to Moscow, appeared interested in improving ties Saudi Arabia and with Oman. Weaning South Yemen away from the Soviet bloc is a long-terobjective of the Persian Gulf Arabs," one said, adding there were signs South Yemen was interested in this. Mohammed visited Saudi Arabia in 1980 and stopped propaganda broadcasts against the Omani government of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who maintains close diplomatic and military links to the United States and Britain. The diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mohammeds regime appeared to feel close ties with the Soviet bloc had brought insufficient economic progress to the impc erished country of 2 million people which has no oil, unlike most of its neighbors. Ismail was a strong supporter of the Soviet Union throughout his political career. Soon after independence from Britain in 1967, he and Ali Ahwho Aden radio med Nasser Antar also said was executed organized opposition to Arab nationalists led by right-win- g President Qahtan Shabi and forced him from office June 22, 1969. The new government, under President Salem Rubai Ali, transformed South Yemen into a socialist state, changed the countrys name to the Peoples Democratic Republic of Yemen and strengthened its alliance with the Kremlin. A7 South Yemen Rebels Bear Down On Wounded Leaders Palace 1 By Robert H. Reid Associated Press Writer One of the men CAIRO, Egypt South Yemens radio says was ext cuted as a leader of an attempted coup in Aden is a former president who helped oust two other heads of state and forged the Arab nations close alliance with the Soviet Union. South Yemens official Aden radio said Abdul Fattah Ismail, who signed South Yemens friendship treaty with the Soviet Union in 1979, was one of four people executed after attempting to overthrow the current president, Ali Nasser Mohammed. Persian Gulf sources said Mohammed was critically wounded in the uprising and rebel forces still were fighting for the second day Tuesday in Aden, the capital. In Britain, the former colonial power, Foreign Office sources said fighting continued and communications had been cut with South Yemen, the only Marxist country on the Arabian Peninsula. Neither Aden radio nor the British sources gave any indication of the motives behind the coup attempt. In 1969 and 1978, Ismail and his supporters overthrew previous heads of state who showed signs of turning to the West. They moved South Yemen ever closer to Moscow, which now has important naval installations in the country on the southwestern tip of the peninsula. Western diplomats in neighboring countries had said before the coup was launched Monday that President Wednesday, Jaadary 15, 1986 Ali opposed further moves to the left, however. He established diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, sought economic aid from the West and began improving relations with China, the Soviet Unions rival. Ismail split with him and, after months of feuding, openly accused him of ordering the June 24, 1978, assassination of Ahmed ibn Hussein president of neighboring was killed North Yemen. when a briefcase carried by a South Yemeni envoy exploded. Speculation arose at the time that Alis opponents plotted the assassination to discredit him. Ismails leftist supporters including Mohammed, launched a the current president coup June 26 that overthrew Ali, and he was executed. Ismail became head of state in December 1978, with Mohammed as his prime minister. His government signed economic, cultural and military agreements with the Soviet Union and endorsed its December 1979 military intervention in Afghanistan. South Yemen allowed the Soviets to establish naval facilities in Aden and Socotra Island that give Moscow a strategic military presence in the Indian Ocean and at the entrance to both the Persian Gulf and Red Sea. The United States negotiated an agreement in 1980 to use airfields and other military facilities in Oman, South Yemen's eastern neighbor on the Arabian Peninsula, in part to offset the Soviet presence. artillery and tral Aden and small-arm- s in the fire in cen- citys port. South Yemen, a key Soviet ally in the Mideast, lies near the mouth of the Red Sea on the southern end of the Arabian peninsula. The Soviet Union has important naval bases in Aden and on Socotra Island in the Indian Ocean. In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles E. Redman noted Tuesday that the United States has no diplomatic representation in South Yemen and said there were few, if any, Americans there. Marine executives in Bahrain, Dubai and Kuwait said they been receiving wireless messages about street fighting from ships anchored at Aden. Fierce fighting has been raging in and around the port district," said one executive. Army and militia rebels have been advancing behind tanks and armored personnel carriers toward the presidential palace and radio station. The sources insisted on anonymity. They said troops loyal to Mohammed controlled the airport district, where sporadic fighting was reported Monday night and early Tuesday. At least four merchant ships were reported ablaze in Aden harbor, while opposing forces traded shellfire in four suburbs, the sources said. They said some seaside buildings also were burning. Official Aden Radio said Monday that four coup plotters were executed after a summary trial. It identified them as former President Abdul Fattah Ismail; Ali Ahmed Nasser Antar, a close associate of Mohammed and No. 2 man in the prethe minsidium; Ali Salem ister of local administration; and Ali Shayie, a ranking member of the ruling Yemen Socialist Party. Diplomatic sources in London, in- sisting on anonymity, expressed doubts about the reported executions, and reported speculation that Defense Minister Saleh Musleh led the coup attempt. They had little information about Musleh. A gulf shipping executive, who spoke on condition he not be identified, told the AP, We have information received by wireless from the port of Aden about President Mohammed being hospitalized for serious injuries he suffered in the assassination attempt. Our men in Aden have been told by official and rebel sources that the president was critically injured. Prime Minister Heider Abu Bakr was abroad. He delayed a scheduled Tuesday arrival in Peking and stayed in New Delhi, India, ac cording to officials at South Yemen's embassy in Peking South Yemen is the only avowedly Marxist Arab state, and the Yemen Socialiid Party is patterned along communist lines. The British Broadcasting Corp. said Tuesday that fighting appeared to be between dogmatic hardliners and those with a more "pragmatic approach. Mohammed was considered less of a Moscow man and also less doctrinaire than Ismail. We don't know if the Soviets have been involved in the fighting," said one Japanese trade company executive, who said he had received radio messages from a ship in Aden. "But what is certain is that the Soviets are there on the streets, blocking a few roads. He said fierce fighting" raged near the Soviet Embassy compound. The Soviet Union maintains a sizable military presence in South Yemen, which has a population of 2.2 million and is one of the world's poorest nations. The Italian and British embassies were reported damaged in the fighting, but no injuries were reported. South Yemens telephone and telex links with the world were interrupted and broadcasting stopped. Electric power and water supplies remained cut off. Airport control towers along the gulf said Aden International Airport AP LOW photo Nasser Mohammed Reported Critically Hurt AH Iran Says Searches Will Continue, No Ship Is Immune Iran will NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) continue to intercept and search foreign ships suspected of carrying military hardware for Iraq regardless of the flags they sail under, the commander of the Iranian navy said Tuesday. Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Mohammed was closed. Hussein Malekzadegan as saying in Fighting was reported heaviest in an interview with the Tehran evening the airport district of Khormaksar, newspaper Kayhan that Iran will and the Mansoura and Tawahi subcontinue to exercise its right to inurbs, near the sea port. tercept or seize suspected ships in the South Yemen and Moscow signed a Sea of Oman and the Persian Gulf. of 1979. in treaty friendship The agency dispatch was moniAccording to the International Intored in Nicosia, Cyprus. stitute for Strategic Studies in LonIranian naval forces on Sunday indon, South Yemens 27,500-stron- g a total of eight foreign tercepted armed force is heavily equipped by the Soviet Union and is backed by ships, including two British and an American vessel. All were allowed to 1,000 Soviet troops. after the Iranians were asIsmail was the most prominent of proceed sured they did not carry military those named as conspirators. In 1969 for Iran and Iraq have and 1978 he helped oust South Yemeni goods warIraq. been at since September 1980. presidents who tried to block Marxist The American cargo ship Presiprograms or improve contacts with 12 American dent Taylor, carrying conservative Arab states. In Decempassengers in addition to the crew, ber 1978, Ismail was elected president of the presidium of the Supreme later docked at Fujaira, one of seven small states comprising the United Peoples Council, effectively becomArab Emirates. 1980 He in of state. head ing resigned The United States said Iran may and moved to Moscow when opposihave been within its rights as a belligtion to his leadership grew in party erent country in searching the ships ranks. Mohammed replaced Ismail as for arms. Malekzadegan was quoted as saypresident. 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