April was one of the costliest months for Israel in terms of battle casualties, especially on the Egyptian front, a military spokesman disclosed today. He said 31 Israeli soldiers were killed compared to 16 in March and there were 660 incidents along the Egyptian line in April compared to 516 the month before. The spokesman said that intensified fighting on all borders in recent days and increased infiltration attempts by saboteurs were due in part to the approach of Independence Day. Israel will celebrate the 22nd anniversary of its founding next Monday. Last week 17 Israeli soldiers were killed, 14 on the Suez Canal front, two along the Jordanian border and one on the Lebanese border.
The spokesman revealed that Israel Air Force jets carried out 28 attacks on Egyptian targets during April along the Suez Canal and as far as 20 kilometers inside Egypt. The deepest penetrations were at Mansour, Salahiyeh and Helouan. There were six Egyptian air attacks on Israeli positions during the month and the Egyptians lost six planes, the spokesman said. Egyptian artillery attacks increased sharply. A number of Israeli positions absorbed as many as 1000 shells fired within an hour or an hour-and-a-half. The spokesman reported a decrease in incidents on borders other than the Suez. They were down to 380 in April compared to 474 in March.
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