lennart
12-05-04, 19:49
IDF reports casualties in attack on APC near Rafah
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
A number of Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded on Wednesday evening when an armored personnel carrier (APC) was hit while travelling through the Philadelphi Route, near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Five soldiers were reportedly injured in the attack.
The APC was apparently hit by an anti-tank rocket or by a bomb, that caused explosives it was carrying to explode.
Emergency forces evacuated the wounded to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.
Palestinian sources reported that 10 Palestinian bystanders were injured as a result of the blast, whose force caused parts of the APC to be hurled to a large distance, into Palestinian as well as Egyptian territory.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israeli F-16 fighter jets and helicopters were patrolling the area immediately after the attack, as large IDF forces were moving into the area of the blast.
According to Palestinian sources, an IAF helicopter fired two missiles at targets in the area, causing casualties.
The attack came 36 hours after six Israeli soldiers were killed when a bomb ripped apart the armored personnel carried in which they were travelling through the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/426794.html
By Arnon Regular, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
A number of Israel Defense Forces soldiers were wounded on Wednesday evening when an armored personnel carrier (APC) was hit while travelling through the Philadelphi Route, near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Five soldiers were reportedly injured in the attack.
The APC was apparently hit by an anti-tank rocket or by a bomb, that caused explosives it was carrying to explode.
Emergency forces evacuated the wounded to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.
Palestinian sources reported that 10 Palestinian bystanders were injured as a result of the blast, whose force caused parts of the APC to be hurled to a large distance, into Palestinian as well as Egyptian territory.
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
Israeli F-16 fighter jets and helicopters were patrolling the area immediately after the attack, as large IDF forces were moving into the area of the blast.
According to Palestinian sources, an IAF helicopter fired two missiles at targets in the area, causing casualties.
The attack came 36 hours after six Israeli soldiers were killed when a bomb ripped apart the armored personnel carried in which they were travelling through the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/426794.html