A large Egyptian raiding party attacked Israeli positions on the east bank of the Suez Canal Saturday night. According to an Israeli spokesman, they landed at about 11 p.m. local time under cover of an artillery and mortar barrage but were quickly repulsed and fled back across the canal without inflicting casualties or damage. The spokesman said that two Egyptian were found dead on the Israeli bank of the waterway and three more bodies were observed later on the Egyptian side.
The Egyptian version of the raid differed from the Israeli account. According to Cairo, 130 Egyptian troops occupied and held Israeli positions on the canal’s east bank for two hours before withdrawing without casualties. Cairo claimed that its raiders killed “a large number” of Israeli troops and that the latter suffered additional casualties when Israeli Air Force jets mistakenly bombed and strafed their own men.
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