A grenade exploded in a Nablus square today injuring 21 persons including tourists from the United States, South America, South Africa and West Germany. Eleven local Arabs and four Israelis were among the injured. Three tourists from Chile were hospitalized and released. The explosion occurred in Clock Square in the center of Nablus, the largest West Bank town. Police and security forces sealed off the area and arrested several suspects. A local source said the grenade was aimed at the crowded market place and apparently not at a tourist bus parked 90 feet away. Egyptian MIG-17 fighter-bombers attacked Israeli military positions in the Sinai peninsula yesterday and one was shot down by an Israeli Hawk missile. A military spokesman said the attack, the second since Saturday, was limited to the northern sector of the Suez Canal zone and penetrated the Sinai to a depth of 15 miles. But there were no casualties or damage, he said. The Egyptian raid last Saturday killed three Israeli soldiers and injured eight. Israeli Hawk missiles brought down one MIG-21 and scored hits on two others. The spokesman said yesterday’s raid was lighter than the one Saturday.
Some sources said the recent activity of the Egyptian Air Force was intended to challenge Israeli jets to retaliatory raids to test Egypt’s new air defense system. The latter is based on newly installed Soviet SAM-3 anti-aircraft missiles and a new early warning radar system delivered from Russia. Israeli and Jordanian units battled with machine guns across the Jordan River north of the Dead Sea last night. Neither side reported casualties. An Israeli soldier was wounded in an artillery exchange with Egyptian units in the southern section of the canal zone yesterday. Terrorist infiltrators from Syria damaged equipment at a new ski center under construction on Mt. Hernon in the northern Golan Heights last night. The center is known as Ramat Haslom. Jordanians opened fire on settlements in the Beisan Valley last night. No casualties were reported.
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.
