Four houses in the west bank village of Yertach were blown up today, after Israeli authorities traced to them the footprints of the saboteurs who mined a Lydda-Haiffa freight train on Friday, just south of the neighboring town of Tulkarem. At the same time, nine suspected persons were detained.
Three cars were derailed when the train hit the mine, but no one was injured in the blast nor was rail traffic interrupted, an army spokesman reported at the time. He said another mine was found near the scene of the explosion and immediately dismantled.
After the incident, the army imposed a curfew on a number of villages in the area and launched a search for the perpetrators. Footprints of three men were found at the site of the explosion and traced to the four houses in Yertach.
Village leaders said that they would complain to the International Red Cross about the Israeli action and would demand indemnification from Israel for the destruction of the houses. They said that they were certain that the saboteurs did not come from Yertach, claiming that the dogs which had trailed them there were “just mistaken.”
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