Katyusha rocket shells fired from Lebanese territory about ten miles away, exploded Just outside Safad early this morning. No casualties or damage was reported. The shelling was the first sustained by Safad, an anoint city In the Galilean hills, since Israel’s war for independence in 1948. Police found a shell crater In a dry river bed Just outside the town shortly after in explosion at about 6:30 a.m. local time. More explosions were reported from the other side of town.
The shelling of Safad was the latest in what appears to be a resurgence of terrorist activity against Israeli civilian centers. Grenade blasts injured six persons in Natanya and Kfar Saba last week. Police Chief Pinhas Koppel said yesterday that 12 parcels containing explosives arrived in Israel from overseas during the past few days and were safely dismantled. He said an undisclosed number of other parcels of a suspicious nature were undergoing inspection.
Israeli security services are reportedly Investigating the possibility that Yugoslavia Is the base from which Arab terrorists have been mailing the booby-trapped parcels to Israel. Several came from Yugoslavia but most appear to have been mailed from Vienna. Israeli authorities are seeking a link between the current wave of bomb mailings and the cases of two young girls who were found to be carrying suitcases filled with explosives to Israel last year. One of the girls, a Dutch national, told authorities she was given the valise by an Arab friend she met in Yugoslavia. The girls convinced the authorities that they were unaware of the deadly content of their baggage.
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.
