Israeli Jets Attack Egyptian Targets All Along Suez Canal; Israeli Soldier Wounded

Israel Air Force jets continued intermittent attacks on Egyptian targets all along the Suez Canal today and returned safely to their bases. A military spokesman said the attacks were concentrated on bunkers and artillery emplacements in the northern and central sections of the canal zone. An Israeli soldier was wounded in an exchange of fire with Egyptian forces along the canal at noon today. Israeli forces repulsed an Egyptian commando raid across the Suez Canal last night, killing one Egyptian soldier. There were no Israeli casualties. A military spokesman said the raid was on a small scale. The large quantity of mines and explosives found after the Egyptians retreated under Israeli artillery fire indicated that the Egyptians’ purpose was to plant mines and carry out acts of sabotage, he said. The encounter took place near Kantara in the southern section of the canal zone. Israeli jets pounded Egyptian targets in the canal zone yesterday afternoon and returned safely to their bases. Heavy artillery exchanges were reported last night between Israeli and Egyptian forces. There were no Israeli casualties.

An Israeli spokesman said yesterday that there was no truth to an Egyptian claim that its forces successfully carried out a large scale commando raid on Israeli positions on the canal’s east bank Sunday night and inflicted heavy casualties. The spokesman said no Israeli positions came under attack. A military spokesman said today that Soviet-Egyptian missile sites have not moved any closer to the Suez Canal since last week when Israel’s Chief of Staff Gen. Haim Bar Lev disclosed the presence of SAM-2s and SAM-3s in a 17-mile deep belt beginning 15 miles west of the waterway. The spokesman said the Egyptians and the Russians have changed their tactics. Last week they fired about 100 missiles “blindly” at Israeli aircraft in the hope that one might hit. Now they are firing fewer missiles at a time, he said. Three residents of Gaza were injured today when a grenade thrown at an Israeli car missed and exploded in a market place in the Djebalia quarter.