A soldier of the Israel-allied South Lebanon Army was wounded Wednesday when a roadside charge went off near his patrol in the security zone.
The Islamic fundamentalist Hezbollah group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The incident occurred as the Israel Defense Force engineering corps presented the media with its special unit of bomb-sniffing dogs that will head to southern Lebanon.
Brig. Gen. Eliezer Toledano said the dogs were effective in countering the widespread practice of laying roadside charges along southern Lebanon routes used by IDF and SLA forces.
The canines are taught to run ahead of an army patrol, smelling for any traces of explosive materials.
If the dogs sense any explosive material, they sit at the site until experts from the engineering corps are able to neutralize or detonate the charge.
“To date, none of the dogs have been injured in their duties,” Toledano told Israel Radio. “To use the dogs is to save soldiers’ lives.”
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