Jordanian, Guerrilla Forces Continue Battle; One American Killed, 32 Hostages Heid

An American attached to the U.S. Embassy in Amman was shot to death this morning as widespread fighting between Jordanian regulars and Palestinian guerrillas continued for the second day. King Hussein narrowly escaped assassination when his motorcade was ambushed on the outskirts of Amman yesterday. Guerrillas took over the plush Amman Hilton hotel today and held 32 foreigners hostage, 14 Americans among them. Reports of what appears to have become a civil war in the Hashemite kingdom were relayed from Cairo and Beirut. All direct communications between Amman and the rest of the world have been cut off. Meanwhile the split widened between moderate and extremist elements within the Palestinian guerrilla movement. Yassir Arafat, chief of El Fatah, the largest of the guerrilla groups, condemned the attempted assassination of King Hussein. He said in an interview with a Beirut newspaper today that the guerrillas to not seek to overthrow the Hashemite regime although they will never give up Jordan as a base of operations against Israel.

But Dr. George Habash, Marxist leader of the extremist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, repudiated El Fatah. He said the Front would not recognize any agreement between Arafat and the Jordanian government. Habash said in an interview published in Paris today that his forces would provoke civil war in Jordan if the Hussein regime tried to restrict their operations against Israel. According to an earlier radio report from Amman, King Hussein and Arafat agreed to a cease-fire and to joint patrols to enforce it. But fighting between guerrillas and regulars continued with heavy casualties on both sides according to the latest reports. (The death of an American in Amman was confirmed in Washington by State Department spokesman John F. King today. He said the victim was caught in crossfire between Arab guerrillas and Jordanian troops. His identity was not disclosed pending notification of next of kin. Mr. King said that a message from the Amman Embassy at noon, Washington time, reported that all telephone service and electric power was out in the Jordanian capital.)

Reports from Damascus today quoted guerrilla sources as estimating that 100 persons were killed and 250 wounded in the Jordanian fighting. The Jordanian Army was reported today to have rushed troops from the Israel cease-fire line to reenforce Army regulars battling guerrillas in the capital. Fighting was also reported in Irbid village, long a guerrilla stronghold and at Suweilah, eight miles north of Amman where the attempt was made on the life of King Hussein. Accounts differed as to how the latest fighting broke out. Guerrilla sources accused the Jordanian Army of shelling a Palestinian refugee camp. One source said the showdown between Hussein and the Palestinians started when Jordan Army tanks fired at two jeeps belonging to the Syrian-backed AI Saiqa guerrillas. (The New York Herald Tribune International Edition in Paris warned editorially today that Israel and the Arab states must come to an agreement before “a war of general chaos infects the whole Mideast.” The paper observed that “in the long run Israel might be as gravely jeopardized by anarchy on its borders as by well organized hostile governments. Similarly, the Arab cause can hope for no permanent good from such an eventuality,” the Herald Tribune said.)