Suicide Bomber Blows Up Lebanon Roadblock; 10 Die

A suicide bomber in a car bearing a Red Cross flag blew up a checkpoint and nearby bakery in Israel’s south Lebanon security zone today, killing himself and nine other people, Israel radio and military sources reported.

They identified the victims as seven Lebanese civilians and two members of the South Lebanon Army militia that acts as Israel’s surrogate in the area.

The white Peugeot 504 exploded near the village of Tibnit, about five miles north of the Israeli border, the radio and military sources said. It was the third such attack at security-zone checkpoints in less than a week.

The sources said the crossing had been closed to civilians since the two bombings at other locations last Tuesday.

Air Attacks in Reprisal

A day after those attacks, Israel struck back with air raids on Palestinian guerrilla bases north of the Lebanese port of Tripoli.

When the car arrived at the checkpoint today, members of the South Lebanon Army militia demanded identification and the driver then detonated the bomb, a military source reported.

He said most of the victims were employees or customers at a bakery a few dozen yards from the crossing. He estimated the car was carrying about 220 pounds of explosives.

Hours after the car bombing, Beirut’s state-run television broadcast a final, prerecorded message from a 20-year-old man it said was responsible for the attack.

“The Israeli enemy who occupied and is still occupying our land must be taught a lesson,” said Hisham Abbass, who was described as a member of the Organization of the Syrian Baath Party from north Lebanon.

He added: “I want to address a salute to our first comrade, struggler Hafez Assad (the Syrian president) and . . . I hope my operation will result in great losses in enemy ranks.”

A Red Cross representative in Tel Aviv said he knew nothing about the attack or involvement of a Red Cross vehicle, but said his organization uses Peugeot 504 cars in Lebanon.

Lebanese resistance groups have vowed to force Israel to abandon the security zone and the 2,000-man militia, which is dominated by Christians, and withdraw the Israeli soldiers still in south Lebanon.

Israel pulled nearly all its troops out of Lebanon early in June, but left advisers behind in support of the militia, which is led by Antoine Lahd, a former general in the Lebanese army.

Members of Hezbollah

Israeli security sources said last week that the man and woman who drove the cars in last Tuesday’s suicide bombings were from the fundamentalist Shia group Hezbollah, or Party of God, which has Iran’s support. One of the bombs killed 13 Lebanese civilians and two militiamen.

The Syrian Social Nationalist Party in Beirut claimed responsibility for those bombings.