2 Palestinians Slain, 13 Hurt on West Bank; Policeman Stabbed

Troops killed two Palestinians in the West Bank and wounded 13 others and a policeman was stabbed in Jerusalem in continuing unrest Friday.

An army spokesman said troops opened fire when firebombs were hurled at them in the village of Idna, near Hebron.

“The patrol was forced to respond, two people were killed and 13 injured but not all may have been hurt by gunfire,” the spokesman said.

The trouble flared after the lifting of an unprecedented three-day security clampdown on the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and warnings from Israeli officials that the restrictions could be reimposed if violence continued.

In Jerusalem, a policeman was stabbed in the stomach and the neck near the Old City’s Temple Mount shortly after Muslim prayers. Police said he was not seriously wounded and army radio said his attacker was arrested.

At least 121 Palestinians and an Israeli soldier have been killed in the Palestinian uprising which began on Dec. 9.

Meanwhile, President Chaim Herzog ordered the early release of two members of a Jewish underground group which attacked an Islamic college in Hebron, killing three Arab students and crippled two Arab mayors in bomb attacks.

Yitzhak Ganiram and Ira Rappaport were freed hours before the start of Passover. Rappaport had 18 weeks left to serve of a 30-month sentence for membership in a terror organization and taking part in an attack on a mayor of Nablus. Ganiram, whose seven-year sentence for manslaughter had already been reduced by Herzog, was due to be released in June.