Israel Air Force jets attacked Egyptian military positions and artillery batteries on the west bank of the Suez Canal this evening in response to Egyptian shelling of Israeli forces in the Der Swair area near the canal’s mid-point. A military spokesman said the air attack was launched at 6:30 p.m. local time and that all Israeli planes returned safely to their bases. Two Israeli soldiers were injured in sporadic Egyptian artillery and small arms attacks yesterday.
Israeli fatalities stemming from last Wednesday’s Egyptian artillery barrages south of Port Tewfik rose to three when a civilian employee of the Army died of his wounds. He was identified as Uri Moallem, 25. The earlier victims were Chaim Yegger, a soldier who was seen drowning in the Suez Canal and Lance Corp. Shmuel Suto. Officials also reported the death of Lt. Asher Saddot who was injured when he stepped on an anti-personnel mine in the Golan Heights last week.
EIGHT ARAB SABOTEURS KILLED IN WEEKEND CLASHES WITH PATROLS
Eight Arab saboteurs were killed over the week-end in skirmishes with Israeli patrols. The Israeli units suffered no casualties, a military spokesman reported. One of the guerrillas was killed last night north of the Damiya bridge in the Jordan Valley. Five were killed Friday night near Shaar Hagolan in the Beisan Valley where they were setting up Katyusha rocket launches, apparently to attack nearby Israeli settlements. Three members of the gang escaped but one of them is believed to have been wounded. Two saboteurs were killed Friday night in the Araba desert area south of the Dead Sea.
Thirteen Israeli Arabs and three from the Gaza Strip living in Tira village were detained for questioning yesterday following an explosion that damaged a poultry shed in Kiar Hess Friday. Police dogs brought to the scene picked up a trail that led to Tira, many of whose Arab residents work in nearby Israeli settlements.
In other fighting, an Israeli border policeman was injured Saturday when his patrol was fired on from Lebanese territory near Malkiyeh. Several mortar shells were fired today at the banana plantations of Ashdod Yaacov in the northern Beisan Valley. Two bazooka shells were fired from Syrian territory early today at an Army post in the northern Golan Heights. A woman was slightly injured Saturday when a bomb exploded on a crowded beach at Herzliya.
A military spokesman disclosed that a cache of 150 mines, 50 hand grenades, explosives, Katyusha rockets, rifles and machine guns was discovered last week north of Ein Geddi near the Dead Sea.
SABOTEURS CUT PIPELINE IN SECOND RAID ON HAIFA REFINERY COMPLEX
Arab commandoes made their second raid in ten weeks on the Haifa oil refinery complex Thursday night, setting explosions that damaged a crude oil pipeline and a high-tension power line. Firefighting units quickly extinguished a blaze touched off by one of the blasts. The electric power pylon was not damaged, although the raiders managed to cut some wires. The wires were repaired within a few hours.
The damaged pipeline is one which leads from the refineries to the crude oil terminal near the Haifa port. An explosive charge was placed near a control tap and after it was detonated, some oil leaked from the break. Repair was started immediately. Eight Arabs were arrested in the initial stages of the police investigation. All but two were released today. The two still in custody were both seen in the area under suspicious circumstances before the explosion occurred. One of them, an Israeli Arab from Galilee, said he had been invited by a contractor to work in the area but had gotten lost and wandered in the vicinity of the refineries.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
