2 Israeli Soldiers Killed in Ambush

Two Israeli soldiers and three Lebanese guerrillas were killed Monday in a clash about four miles inside southern Lebanon, marking the first reported Israeli combat deaths in that country since April.

The casualties came nearly two months after the announced withdrawal of the Israeli army to this side of the Lebanese border, a move officially ending the war that was begun when Israeli troops swept north in June, 1982, to destroy Palestine Liberation Organization bases.

Two other Israelis were wounded in Monday’s clash, which the army said occurred in Israel’s so-called security zone. The zone extends up to 10 miles north of the border, and Israel maintains several hundred uniformed and plainclothes personnel there to assist its ally, the South Lebanon Army militia, in patrolling the area.

An army spokesman said the clash occurred about 2:30 a.m., when an Israeli patrol was ambushed by “a terrorist squad” near Majdel Selm, a Shia Muslim village about five miles west of Kiryat Shemona, the largest town in Israel’s northern panhandle.

Kalashnikov Rifles

According to the army, the Lebanese guerrillas were carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and communications equipment.

One of the wounded Israelis, interviewed on army radio, said: “It was dark. We could not identify them exactly, but they opened fire on us.”

Timur Goksel, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping force, said that sentries at a U.N. observation post heard shooting near a permanent Israeli position on a ridge in the area. They paid little attention because “you hear shooting every night” around the position, he said.

About half an hour later, Goksel said, the U.N. observers saw an Israeli helicopter land nearby and about 10 soldiers disembark. At mid-morning, an Israeli officer showed the bodies of the three guerrillas to the U.N. observers. Goksel said the identities of the three are still uncertain.

The Israelis and their militia allies have come under increasing attack in the Israeli-controlled zone in recent weeks, mainly from Shia Muslim Lebanese resistance fighters who have pledged to drive them out of Lebanon. Clashes occur almost daily between the guerrillas and militiamen. Last week, two rockets were fired into Israel from the zone.