Many Soviet Troops Killed by Rebels, Afghans Report

PESHAWAR, Pakistan â€”  Afghan rebels killed scores of Soviet troops, shot down four helicopters and destroyed 76 tanks and armored vehicles in a major offensive near the Pakistan border, Afghan rebel leaders said Sunday.

A spokesman for one of the largest Afghan rebel groups, the Hezb-i-Islami, said a Soviet-led force overran four rebel posts in eastern Afghanistan about two miles from the Pakistani border in late August.

Campaign Launched

But on Sept. 1, he said, a force of 5,000 Muslim rebels launched a counteroffensive in which they destroyed 36 tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as downing the four helicopters and causing heavy Soviet casualties.

Forty more tanks and trucks were destroyed as the Soviets retreated to the border village of Chahawni, he said.

The guerrilla reports could not be confirmed.

Saifullah Halimi, 31, one of the group’s field commanders, said 85 of his guerrilla fighters were killed during 10 days of fighting in the district of Zazi in eastern Afghanistan. The district is used as an infiltration point for Afghan rebels from Pakistan, and Soviet and Afghan government forces are trying to block the guerrillas’ infiltration and supply routes.

Major rebel groups based in the border city of Peshawar denied responsibility for shooting down an Afghan domestic airliner last Wednesday in Afghanistan in which, according to Radio Kabul, all 52 people aboard were killed. The Kabul broadcast said the guerrillas used a U.S.-made missile to down the plane shortly after takeoff from Kandahar, in southeastern Afghanistan.

‘Don’t Know Anything’

“We don’t know anything about this incident,� a rebel spokesman said. “The moujahedeen (Muslim guerrillas) would never shoot down a plane with innocent people on board. It could only happen if our brothers knew the plane was carrying Russian soldiers, which the airline often does.�

Afghan rebels are trying to oust 115,000 Soviet occupation troops who invaded Afghanistan in December, 1979, and now fight in support of the regime of President Babrak Karmal.