Israelis Fire in Dark, Hit Two U.N. Soldiers

An Israeli tank opened fire in the dark early today on a U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, injuring two Norwegian soldiers, officials said.

Israeli soldiers fired after midnight on “suspicious movements” in Israel’s self-declared security zone in southern Lebanon, an Israeli Defense Forces statement said. Israel said the attack was on “a UNIFIL force which was moving on foot without the knowledge of our forces in the area.”

But officials with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) protested the attack, saying the Norwegian force was on regular patrol in its designated area when the soldiers were hit.

One man was hit in the shoulder with exploding fragments from an anti-personnel tank round and the other was hit in the leg, said Interim Force spokesman Timor Goksel.

Both were in satisfactory condition after surgery at the Interim Force hospital in Naqoura, 11 miles south of the coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon, he said.

Goksel said the tank was near Kaoukaba in the central part of the security zone and the Norwegians were about one mile away near the village of Blat when the Israelis fired.

The soldiers were part of an estimated eight-man patrol riding on an armored personnel carrier but only two were injured, Goksel said.