Police today clamped down a tight curfew on two Jewish colonies and threw heavy cordons of troops around three others as an aftermath emplosions which blasted two coast guard stations last night.
According to an official communique, a small party of armed Jews placed expensives at the base of the Givat Olga coast guard station, near Tel Aviv, shortly number 1 a.m. After the explosion, the attackers opened fire with automatic weapons, sanding a British sergeant and three Palestine constables. About a half-hour later another group of Jews attacked the coast guard station at Sidi Ali, near the Jewish settlement of Herzlia, using high explosives and automatic rifles. Here ten British and Arab police were wounded.
A short time later, large detachments of military police arrived at Herzlia and nearby Raanana and ordered residents to remain at home. Troops also surrounded be settlements of Rishon Le Zion and Shefaim and orderea settlers who had gathered from neighboring colonies to disperse. A Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent who telephoned Shefaim was told that everything was quiet, but that the settlers feared an (##) might develop. About 4,000 troops are dug in around both colonies.
The colony of Givat Haim, not far from the Givat Olga station, was also cordened off by troops, equipped with tanks and armored cars, while airplanes circled serhead, Latest reports say that the inhabitants are still refusing demands that they allow troops to enter, presumably to search for persons connected with the explotions, An attempt to reach the settlement by telephone was unsuccessful.
A broadcast by the secret Voice of Israel radio tonight said that the two stations had been warned before being attacked in order to avoid loss of life, and charged that “these posts were for use against free immigration.” Both had been active in the hunt for 200 immigrants from the Greek vessel Demetrios, who were landed Friday morning.
Meanwhile, it was revealed today that in one of the most daring raids recently carried out in Palestine, seven or eight men, said to be Jews, used forged documents to gain entry into a Royal Air Force installation near Lydda airdrome in broad daylight last Thursday and got away with a large quantity of arms.
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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.
