European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 03, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes world tuesday August 3,1993 Yeltsin s military Leader " "  f. In caucasus shot to Vladikavkaz Russia a gunmen on horseback assassinated president Boris n. Yeltsin s handpicked military governor in the strife torn Cauca sus mountains of Southern Russia officials said Mon Day. Viktor pol Yanichko 54, died in an ambush sunday afternoon on a forested Road about two Miles from the regional capital of Vladikavkaz. The killing is certain to increase eff Nic tension in the rugged mountains where several thousand russian troops Are on constant patrol to separate feuding ing ush muslims and Christian ossetian. The Likely suspects in the assassination Are Inrush guerrillas who Are traditionally horse riders. Many ing ush believe that pol Yanichko and the russian troops under his command have favored the ossetian and secretly Given them arms. The governor s spokeswoman Bella Dzugaeva said a russian general Anatoly Koretsky and a bodyguard also died when the attackers opened fire with automat � in rifles on pol Yanichko s motorcade. Three other body guards vere wounded. A the assailants fled into the Woods on horseback Dzugaeva said. Defense minister Pavel s. Grachev and Deputy prime minister Sergei Shakh Rai flew to Vladikavkaz on monday. Interior minister Viktor Erin also sent a Spe Cial police unit to investigate the assassination. Tuneful tribute Britain s Queen Elizabeth 11 left shares a laugh Sun Day with Queen Mother Elizabeth As they leave the Par ish Church at Sandringham England. The Queen Mother who celebrates her 93rd birthday wednesday was greeted outside the Church with rendition of Happy birthday to  with them Are the Queen Mother s grandson lord Unity and his Fiancee Serena Stan Hope. Linley is the son of the Queen Mother s younger daughter Princess Margaret. As military governor of North Ossetia and i Gushe Tia pol Yanichko s Job was to enforce a state of Emer gency with armed patrols a curfew and censorship. Yeltsin imposed military Rule on the Region of about 500,000 people last fall after More than 300 Inrush and ossetian died in a sudden flare up of ethnic violence. The conflict which has ancient roots was rekindled in the 1940s when soviet dictator Josef Stalin forcibly deported the entire Inrush population to Distant Kazakhstan As punishment for alleged collaboration with the nazis. The Inrush began returning to the Cau Casus mountains in the 1950s, and they Are seeking to regain their old Homes and lands Many now occupied by ossetian. Yeltsin s government has supported the status quo and opposed redrawing Borders to satisfy the Inrush. As a result Inrush leaders have threatened to declare Independence. Pol Yanichko s slaying could provoke a russian crack Down with implications for other trouble spots across the country. Many regions of Russia have been clamor ing for greater autonomy from Moscow but Yeltsin thus far has avoided using Force to rein them in. The regional military government said pol Yanichko was on his Way to meet Inrush guerrillas when he was killed. The government said he hoped to persuade the guerrillas to return arms and ammunition seized last week from russian soldiers. Lone romanian commemorates Plesti airstrike Bucharest Romania up Only one Roma Nian War Veteran sunday marked the 50th anniversary of one of the most daring Allied airstrikes of world War ii but the Date went unnoticed by National authorities. Thousands of Miles away in Portland ore., a group of survivors of operation tidal wave reunited for the 50th anniversary sunday. Retired professor Nicolae Savoiu 79, formerly a Sec Ond lieutenant in the romanian army travelled 40 Miles North of Bucharest to the Oil Fields of Plesti. Fifty years ago Savoiu witnessed one of the boldest and costliest air attacks against Romania when Ameri can aviators launched a Low level raid on Plesti destroying Hitler s main fuel Supply and shortening the War by six months. It was a Surprise raid. They tried to wipe out All the refineries in a single strike. The plan was extraordinary Savoiu remembered. Today there is Little evidence of the carefully planned attack when 1,763 . Fliers in 178 b-24 liberators took off from Benghazi in North Africa and made a Treetop Altitude bombing on the Plesti Oil in  plan was made More complicated As the pilots had been told to avoid hitting the town and causing civilian casualties. A disused German Bunker the remains of anti air Craft gun positions and the Odd Crater from a bomb Mark the scrubland outside Plesti. Nowadays children swim in a nearby Creek and play hide and seek in the former Battlefield. In All 310 died in the attack and 130 were wounded but there is a twist to this extraordinary tale. Instead of being treated As prisoners 108 captured american fliers were treated As heroes. Although Romania was fighting against America Savoiu explained we had traditional Good relations with them so we treated them  search for Avalanche victims halted Costa Italy up warming summer tempera Tures increased the threat of further avalanches Mon Day forcing rescuers to suspend their search for More victims of a massive Snow slide on Mont Blanc that killed at least eight climbers officials said. Authorities said that up to four other members of an 18-member climbing party that had been scaling the italian Side of the Mountain might still be missing. The search was scheduled to resume today officials said. The Avalanche was reported Early monday by a group of climbers who were 450 feet above the Start of the lode on the 12,600-foot Grandes Jor asses one of the peaks of Mont Diane. Powell May be recipient of honorary Knighthood from wire report London Gen. Colin l. Powell will receive an honorary Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth 11 whence retires As chairman of the joint chiefs of staff the sunday times of London said in a unattributed report from Washington. An honorary Knighthood bestowed on non British citizens would hot entitle Powell to Call himself sir Colin but it is the highest Honor tha Britain can bestow on a foreigner. Other americans to receive honorary Knighthood in recent years include former president Reagan former defense Secretary Caspar. Weinberger Brent scowcroft former National Security adviser and retired Gen. H. Norma Schwarzkopf who commanded Allied forces in the persian Gulf  is expected to retire in september. Ailing Honecker weakens Halle Germany Erich Honecker s lawyer says the ousted East German communist Leader is seriously ill and too weak to write his memoirs newspaper reported monday. Honecker 80, has been living in Santiago Chile since his manslaughter trial was abruptly halted in january because of his liver cancer. He was being tried for killings at the Berlin  an interview with the Mitte Deutsche express newspaper of Halle attorney Friedrich Wolff was quoted As saying Honecker is very  explorer rafting to . Tokyo a British explorer left Japan on Bamboo raft monday for a nonstop Pacific crossing intended to prove that chinese mariners could have reached North America More than 1,700 years before Christopher  Severin 52, who started his voyage in Hong Kong on May 13, set out for the longest portion after a ceremony at Shimoda 78 Miles Southwest of Tokyo. The raft made of 220 giant Bamboo logs lashed together was expected to reach men Docimo calif.,in three months. 2 killed in mine blast Yerevan Armenia a land mine exploded Early sunday under a train heading from Georgia to Armenia killing two people and injuring 10 others an armenian transportation official said. The explosion occurred near the georgian town of a Dakilo about two Miles from the armenian Border said Khachik Avetisyan the head of the transportation service of the armenian railroads. There was no immediate indication of who had planted the mine the Region is populated mainly by Ethni azerbaijanis who have been fighting with Armenia for five years Over an enclave within Azerbaijan. Artist Manessier dead Paris Alfred Manessier one of France s greatest abstract artists died sunday of injuries suffered in an automobile Accident his family  was 81. Manessier was hospitalized in the Loire River City of Orleans and operated on for severe spinal injuries after an Auto Accident wednesday during a vacation. He died sunday morning Ofa sudden blockage of a blood vessel said his daughter Christine. A sensitive Painter noted for his Luminous colors and schematic designs with religious overtones Manessier s greatest period was in the 1950s, when the abstract movement was in full Flower. Manessier also was a master of tapestry and stained Glass. He made a tapestry for the French embassy in Washington d.c., and designed new windows for several churches. His last Ziajor work was the windows in the Abbeville Cathedral. Rains cause deadly slides Tokyo at least seven people were killed and 14 others missing in landslides caused by torrential Rains in Southern Japan Over the weekend police said monday. At least 28 people were injured police said. Most of the damage occurred in Kagoshima prefecture on Japan s Southern Island of Kyushu where 32 houses were destroyed and 552 damaged by floodwaters