Two Israeli soldiers and five border policemen were injured in exchanges of fire that flared along Israel’s borders and cease-fire lines during the past three days. The latest incident, in which one of the soldiers was injured, occurred this morning when Jordanian forces opened fire on Israeli units at the Umm Shurt pass, north of the Allenby Bridge, a military spokesman reported. The fire was returned. Earlier in the day, bazooka shells and volleys of automatic fire were aimed at a border police armored car from the Jordanian side. No casualties were reported.
Five border policemen were injured yesterday when two bazooka shells fired from Jordan hit an armored car near Ashdot Yaacov in the Beisan Valley. The policemen were hospitalized. Artillery fire was exchanged between Jordanian and Israeli forces near Umm Tutz, south of the Beisan Valley, without casualties.
An Israeli soldier was seriously injured in an Egyptian commando ambush of an Israeli Army truck on the east bank of the Suez Canal. An investigation disclosed sets of footprints leading from the site of the ambush to the canal. United Nations observers visited the site and reported their findings. Israel blamed Egyptian forces in a letter to the United Nations Security Council. The Syrian border was quiet. But a sabotage gang operating from Lebanon damaged a reservoir at Avivim settlement. Earlier in the week an abortive attempt was made to sabotage the reservoir in Zaraiit village in upper Galilee.
Authorities reported today that a number of suspected saboteurs were arrested during the past few days, all of them members of the so-called Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The new arrests followed the capture of Abd el-Rahim Jaber, of Hebron, a leader of the Popular Front believed responsible for the recent grenade explosions in downtown Jerusalem and in the central bus terminal in Tel Aviv. Mr. Jaber was wounded in a clash with an Israeli unit south of the Dead Sea and subsequently gave his interrogators the names and addresses of members of his organization. His statement also resulted in the discovery of several arms caches in the Judaean hills.
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