12 People Killed, over 40 Wounded in Weekend Violence in Lebanon

Twelve people were killed and more than 40 were wounded in a weekend of violence in Lebanon. An American Christian-supported and operated television station was also bombed, but there were no casualties.

Eleven Israeli soldiers were wounded Friday when a remote-controlled explosive charge was detonated as their patrol passed through Aley village in the hills east of Beirut on the Beirut-Damascus highway. They were taken by helicopter to a hospital in Haifa.

Earlier in the day, one person was killed and 13 persons were wounded, including two Americans, when some 20 shells hit the Beirut International Airport and the surrounding region. The firing came from the mainly Druze areas in the mountains to the east of Beirut. The two Americans were attacned to the multinational peace force. The others wounded were Lebanese civilians.

A powerful bomb wrecked the Voice of Hope television station yesterday. The station, which was founded and financed by fundamentalist and evangelical church groups mainly in California and states in the United States, was housed in a building just across the border opposite Metullah. It was damaged by a 50-kilo bomb in a car parked nearby. The building was empty at the time. Another car parked nearby was blown into the air and landed on the Israeli slide of the “good fence. “

Maj. Saad Haddad, leader of the south Lebanon Christian militia, narrowly escaped death in the bombing incident. He left the studio minutes before the explosion, intending to return shortly afterwards to make a broadcast. A group of American tourists had also left the area minutes before the blast. Haddad said he thought the bomb had been intended to kill him. A similar car bomb attack on the TV station was made some months ago.