November 21, 2009 - The Daily Star - Lebanon Body believed to be British journalist undergoing tests

Body believed to be British journalist undergoing tests


By Agence France Presse (AFP)

BEIRUT: A body believed to be that of journalist Alec Collett, killed at the height of Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War was transferred to London on Thursday to conduct DNA tests. British experts working in eastern Lebanon have recovered a body believed to be that of Collett on Tuesday. The nine-member British team, comprising military and intelligence specialists, had found two bodies while searching in eastern Bekaa for the remains of the 64-year-old reporter but had reburied one deeming it too young to be Collett, a source had told AFP said.
The British diplomatic mission in Beirut confirmed to AFP that the search was under way but would not confirm that the team had found two bodies or that one was under DNA testing.

The search was conducted amid tight security at a site outside the town of Aita al-Fakhar, the security source said.

The site was a stronghold for armed Palestinian groups at the start of the war.

Collett went missing in 1985 and was reported to have been killed a year later.

He was on assignment in refugee camps for UNRWA when taken hostage near the Beirut airport.

The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO), an offshoot of the Palestinian Fatah Movement, claimed responsibility for the abduction and killing, said to be in response to US air raids on Libya, a funder of the ANO. – The Daily Star, with AFP