Will Kill Hostages if U.S. Attacks, Kidnapers Warn

BEIRUT —  The kidnapers of three Americans and an Indian-born U.S. resident warned Thursday that they will execute the four men if the United States and its allies launch a military attack on Lebanon.

The written threat was accompanied by a photograph of Robert Polhill, 56, an accountant abducted from Beirut University College with his three colleagues Saturday. Two guns were pointed at the head of the grim-faced hostage.

The warning coincided with continuing concern over the fate of Church of England negotiator Terry Waite, despite assurances received by church officials in London that he was safe and still holding talks aimed at releasing Western hostages.

In an address broadcast by the Voice of the Oppressed radio, a pro-Iranian Shia Muslim leader Thursday endorsed the spree of kidnapings in Muslim West Beirut during the last two weeks.

Intended to Pressure Bonn

Sheik Hussein Moussawi, leader of the Islamic Amal movement, said the abductions are aimed at pressuring West Germany to release Mohammed Ali Hamadi, 22, wanted in the United States for the June, 1985, hijacking of a TWA jetliner in the Middle East. A U.S. Navy diver on the plane was killed by the gunmen.

In a statement delivered to a Western news agency in Beirut, a group calling itself Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine charged that the United States and some of its allies are planning to attack targets in Lebanon in retaliation for the kidnapings of Americans and other Westerners.

The group claimed the plan was discussed earlier Thursday at a meeting in Beirut of the U.S ambassador and representatives of U.S. allies.

Several Western ambassadors, but not the U.S. envoy, John Kelly, met in a suburb of Christian East Beirut on Thursday. Diplomats said the talks were routine, but other sources said the session focused on the recent plague of hostage-taking.

In Washington, a Reagan Administration official said: “We hold the captors responsible for the safety of the hostages. We call for the immediate release of all hostages. We do not speculate on any course of action the United States may or may not take.”

Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility Wednesday for the kidnapings last weekend of Polhill, communications professor Alann Steen, mathematics professor Jesse Turner and Indian-born Dr. Mithileshwar Singh, chairman of the business department.

The newly announced group has made no public demands.

In Washington, Secretary of State George P. Shultz said that all organizations involved in the recent wave of kidnapings have strong ties to each other and to Iran.

In London, members of Terry Waite’s family say they are worried despite Anglican Church assurances because they have not heard from him since he went underground Jan. 20 in West Beirut.

His wife, Frances, said she was “very concerned” and “I sincerely hope all is well with him. I feel that unnecessary publicity is not helpful in the circumstances, and I have therefore decided to stay with friends.”