A gang of seaborne terrorists en route to a planned landing and attack in Israel were reported drowned Saturday when their rubber dinghy was shot and sunk north of the Rosh Hanikra border between Lebanon and Israel.
The boat was believed to have been carrying two terrorists when it was discovered by a naval patrol vessel of the Israel Defense Force. The IDF vessel, on a routine patrol at the time of the sighting, opened fire on the dinghy and sank it.
But sources from the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, at its nearby headquarters at Nakoura, reported that four terrorists had been aboard the dinghy, including one woman.
The terrorists, believed to be led by the Popular Struggle Front of the Syrian-backed Popular Front, claimed the operation had been carried out by its members who were planning to attack an unidentified Israeli town.
The Popular Struggle Front, led by Samir Gosheh, is a small, pro-Syrian group.
Representatives of the group were seen searching the shore for the bodies, UNIFIL sources said.
The sources said that Israeli helicopters hovered over the area for some five hours, shooting off about 50 flares during the night in an apparent attempt to find and identify the bodies.
The Israeli navy has recently stepped up its patrol activities off the Lebanese and Israeli coasts, in view of increased sea activity by terrorists.
Many infiltration attempts have been foiled recently as terrorists tried to cross the south Lebanon security border to infiltrate into Israel by land.
Meanwhile, at Israel’s southern end, four Israelis were caught up in an international game of hot potato.
Four Eilat residents were detained by Egyptian police for more than six hours Saturday after their yacht disobeyed standing instructions and approached within a few yards of the Egyptian shoreline in the Gulf of Aqaba.
The Israeli yacht was intercepted by an Egyptian coast guard vessel and forced into an Egyptian port near Coral Island, south of Taba.
The four passengers, including two women, were released following intervention by the Egyptian consul general in Eilat.
But when the foursome returned to Eilat Saturday night, they were detained in turn by Israeli police, who charged them with having left Israel without permission, as well as failing to report in, as instructed, on their way home at the naval section of the Taba border post.
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