PLO Army chief of staff is killed in an ambush

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Anne Shutt

September 29, 1982

Amman, Jordan

In an ambush behind Syrian lines in the eastern Bekaa Valley, gunmen killed the chief of staff of the Palestine Liberation Organization armed forces, Brigadier Saad Sayel, the PLO said here Tuesday.

Brigadier Sayel, known as Abu al Walid, played a key role in organizing the defense of Beirut against the Israeli Army this summer. A force of 30 men armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were reportedly involved in the ambush.