Four terrorists who were about to infiltrate into Israel in the pre-dawn hours were captured Wednesday morning, after a running skirmish with an Israel Defense Force patrol just inside the Lebanese border.
Three of the terrorists were shot and sustained slight wounds.
There were no Israeli casualties.
The incident occurred around 4 a.m. just across the border from Kfar Yuval in Upper Galilee. The IDF soldiers were on a routine patrol when they encountered the gang about to infiltrate into Israel. They gave chase which lasted about a half-hour.
“This time they caught them living.” Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir told reporters, “which will give us an opportunity to receive more information on all these repeated attempts to infiltrate the Galilee.”
The terrorists were identified as members of George Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. They were apparently planning terrorist acts in Israel.
The terrorists were in possession of machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and explosives when captured.
In the past five months, Palestinian guerrillas have tried to infiltrate Israel’s northern border eight times. Five soldiers and 17 gunmen have been killed in the resulting battles.
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