A hundred Soviet military advisers, including a major general and a colonel, have been killed in Egypt in the past 12 months, Le Figaro said today. The two top officers, the daily said, were crushed to death in their car last Sept. 9 by an Israeli tank during an Israeli reprisal raid on western (Egyptian) side of the Suez Canal. Le Figaro also asserted that Israel has received 10 United States Phantom jets in recent weeks, plus pledges from President Nixon that the U.S. will deliver Israel’s full requested complement of 125 Phantoms and Skyhawks should Egypt or the Soviet Union break a cease-fire agreement. Le Figaro also reported further details on the July 30 dogfight between Israeli jets and Egyptian planes piloted by Soviet airmen in which four MIG-21s were downed. When the Russian-piloted MIGs sought to intercept Israeli planes attacking canal targets, the paper said, Israeli Air Force Commander Gen. Mordecai Hod ordered additional Mirage jets to Join the battle. The four MIGs were shot down within two minutes, according to the report. Before the Russian pilots activated their ejection seats, the paper said, their squad leader shouted over his radio in Russian: “The dirty Jews!” That exclamation was said to have been intercepted by Israeli radar stations. The MIGs crashed on the western side of the canal, in Egyptian territory.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.