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Israel and Egypt Trade Air Blows; Israelis Suffer Number of Killed, Wounded

October 27, 1969
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Israel and Egypt traded air blows on the Sinai Peninsula and across the Suez Canal over the weekend as Israeli and Egyptian artillery dueled over the waterway and other fighting flared across the cease-fire lines with Jordan. Israeli aircraft raided guerrilla positions in Jordan hitting targets for the first time in the northwest suburbs of Amman, the capital.

Eleven Israeli soldiers were wounded, one fatally, in a surprise Egyptian air raid Friday on Israeli positions near Romania, about 20 miles from the Suez Canal. Israeli aircraft blasted Egyptian positions in the Canal zone Friday and Egyptian planes raided Israeli positions near the Canal on Saturday. A military spokesman said one MIG-17 was shot down by a Hawk missile during the raid on Romania and another exploded in the air over the Suez Canal.

An Israeli soldier was fatally wounded by artillery fire in the Canal zone. Another was killed and two were wounded Friday in mortar attacks from Jordanian territory on five Beisan Valley settlements. Four Arab saboteurs were killed Friday night in a clash with an Israeli patrol near Umm Sidra on the Jordan River. Bazooka shells were fired near the Israel-Jordan-Syrian border junction Sunday morning. Fifteen mortar shells exploded Friday at Yardena settlement in the Beisan Valley injuring two horses and causing some damage.

Israeli sappers demolished 18 Arab-owned houses in Khalhoul village near Hebron Saturday following the death of an Israeli second lieutenant who was fired on from one of the houses.

Six Israeli surveyors in the employ of the Jewish National Fund were injured today when their jeep hit a mine in the Golan Heights.

A volunteer organization of residents was set up in Haifa to patrol the streets and homes following a series of apartment house bombings last Wednesday and Thursday. The blasts killed two persons and injured 26. More than 100 Arabs have been rounded up for questioning. Jews and local Arabs will serve on the Haifa patrols in an effort to prevent further sabotage. All are volunteers past military age.

Israeli authorities reported today that they have uncovered evidence linking a number of Israeli Arab villagers in the north of the country with sabotage gangs outside of Israel. The discovery was made during the investigation of the Haifa bombings, but there was no indication whether the suspected Arabs were connected with the Haifa acts.

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