Suicide Car Bomber Rams Israeli Convoy, Blows Up

A suicide car bomber attacked an Israeli convoy in south Lebanon today, wounding six people, and the pro-Iranian Hezbollah said it was in retaliation for Israel’s abduction of a Shiite Muslim cleric.

Hezbollah said a Shiite clergyman drove the explosives-laden vehicle. He and a passenger blew themselves to bits in the attack, Israeli military sources said.

It also said the seizure of Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid hampered efforts to free the 16 Western captives in Lebanon, eight of whom are Americans. Hezbollah is believed to be an umbrella organization for groups holding most of the hostages.

Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual adviser of Hezbollah, said of the bombing: “We tell Israel this is a down payment. Much more will follow.”

Hezbollah, whose name means Party of God, said the suicide bomber was Sheik Assad Birro, a 24-year-old Lebanese Shiite cleric from the Bekaa Valley. Israel said two people were in the pickup, which exploded at mid-morning in the buffer zone the Israelis control just north of the border.

‘Explosive Volcano’

Five Israeli soldiers and a member of the allied South Lebanon Army militia were reported wounded.

Another Hezbollah leader, Sheik Sobhi Tofaili, said that there will be more attacks and that the seizure of Obeid will “mushroom into an explosive volcano in the face of Israel.”

Israeli commandos abducted Obeid, 33, and two aides from the southern Lebanon village of Jibchit on July 28. Israel has offered to trade him and its estimated 300 to 400 Shiite prisoners for three Israeli soldiers held in Lebanon and the Western hostages.

A statement released by the Hezbollah information center described the seizure of Obeid as a “terrorist crime of piracy.”

It reiterated previous rejections of the Israeli exchange proposal. Israel has urged hostage-holding factions to negotiate a trade through the International Red Cross.

“The Zionist enemy (Israel) has suffered a bitter dismay because of his failure to achieve his objectives from the crime of abducting Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid,” the Hezbollah statement said.

“It is clear that things have backfired adversely on the enemy after this foolish crime. It has become impossible to release the Israeli POWs, and all ways for a possible swap have been blocked.

“Moreover, the refusal of the enemy to release Sheik Obeid and his two relatives and his linkage of the problem of the Zionist POWs with that of the hostages might hurt the West and further complicate the hostage issue.”

The statement said, “Efforts for the release of the Western hostages in Lebanon are passing through their greatest setback because of the foolhardiness committed by the racist Zionists who appear perfectly willing to sacrifice all others for their selfish interests.”

Hezbollah said the West should force Israel to free Obeid and described Israel’s claims about statements the cleric made under interrogation as “false and misleading.”

Officials in Israel have said Obeid confessed under interrogation to helping plan attacks on Israel and the Feb. 17, 1988, abduction of Lt. Col. William R. Higgins while he was on U.N. duty in south Lebanon.

Higgins’ captors said they hanged the U.S. Marine officer July 31 in retaliation for Obeid’s abduction.