8 More Arab Homes Destroyed

Soldiers today demolished the houses of eight more Arab villagers suspected of involvement in the slaying of an Israeli teen-ager, despite an army report that indicated the girl might have been killed by a stray Israeli bullet, not an Arab rock.

The army confirmed today that 15-year-old Tirza Porat was shot in the head during the clash at the West Bank village of Beita. An army spokesman said the girl was also struck by a rock, and he added the precise cause of death has not been determined. In a harsh crackdown that followed the slaying, the army shot and killed one Arab youth who allegedly resisted arrest, detained more than a dozen other villagers and cut off electricity and water supplies to the village of 4,000 people.