— Israel has firmly denied a report by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that Israeli soldiers had mutilated the bodies of five Arab terrorists killed in a clash last week. The UNIFIL report said Israeli soldiers had burned, booby-trapped and blown-up the bodies of five terrorists they killed on Dec. 25.
“We do not mutilate bodies,” the Israeli army spokesman said. He said that Israel reported on Dec. 25 that the five terrorists had been discovered by a routine patrol just across the Lebanese border and killed in a clash.
The terrorists had been holed up in a cave and grenades had been thrown in by the Israeli troops, setting off explosives carried by the terrorists, the spokesman said.
He said that the nearby villagers had refused to collect the bodies when asked to do so by the troops. The troops, following normal practice, then took the bodies back to Israel for examination, possible identification and burial, the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, UNIFIL Commander Immanuel Erskine has asked to meet with Israel’s Chief of Staff Gen. Rafael Eitan to clear up the matter, UN officials told reporters today at a press conference in Metullah.
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