A party of Israeli soldiers on their way home for holiday leave was ambushed yesterday by an Arab Legion unit near Bir Mayin, scene of an earlier ambush in which two Israelis were murdered. This time, the ambuscade backfired and one Arab, in the official uniform of the Arab Legion, was killed.
Two Arabs, with a goodly supply of hand grenades, picked a ridge above a bumpy road and when a command car and two trucks full of unarmed holiday-bound Israeli troops approached they hurled their missles. The bombs missed their objectives and exploded harmlessly.
An Israeli patrol nearby, hearing the blasts, hurried up and surrounded the Arabs. They were kept at bay by the hand grenades until a bullet caught one of the Arabs as he prepared to hurl a grenade. The bomb exploded in his hand, killing him. The second Arab escaped across the border to Jordan which is about half a mile away.
Israel informed UN truce headquarters of the incident, but it is not yet known whether a formal complaint will be laid before the Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission.
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