American Hostage Reported Dead

BEIRUT — A Lebanese news magazine said Friday that one of nine Americans held hostage in Lebanon by pro-Iranian extremists has died in captivity.

There was no independent confirmation of the report in Ash Shiraa, a weekly magazine that first broke the story of the Iran-U.S. arms-for-hostages deal in 1986. Ash Shiraa, however, has published several reports on the hostages that proved unfounded.

In the report, which did not name its sources, Ash Shiraa said “an American hostage died some time ago.”

The magazine said it had conflicting information on the identity of the hostage. Some of the information that it quoted fit the descriptions of Alann Steen, Jesse Turner and Robert Polhill, three American professors abducted Jan. 24, 1987. Other information suggested that the hostage in question might be Marine Lt. Col. William R. Higgins, the only American serviceman held hostage, who was abducted Feb. 17, 1988, in southern Lebanon.