Israeli-Allied Militiaman Killed by Bomb in Lebanon

Guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb in Israeli-occupied southern Lebanon on Friday, killing an Israeli-allied militiaman and seriously wounding a militia officer, Lebanese security officials said.

Earlier, an Israeli shell landed in a southern Lebanon village, wounding three civilians, said the officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

Also Friday, Israeli warplanes fired a missile at a valley between the villages of Jebal al-Botom and Zibqine, nine miles southeast of the coastal city of Tyre, the officials said.

An Israeli army spokesman said in Jerusalem that the planes attacked guerrilla targets and returned safely to base.

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrilla group claimed responsibility for the roadside bomb that exploded as Lt. Col. Joseph Karam of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army was traveling in his car outside the town of Jezzine.

Karam’s driver died immediately, while the colonel, also known by his nom de guerre Alloush, suffered serious injuries, said the officials, without elaborating.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that an SLA militiaman was killed and an officer was seriously injured in a roadside explosion. He said another militiaman was slightly wounded.

Three Lebanese civilians were injured when an Israeli shell crashed some yards from a Lebanese army checkpoint in Kfar Tibnit, just outside the occupied zone. The village lies two miles southwest of the market town of Nabatiyeh.

Israeli troops are engaged in a war of attrition with Lebanese guerrillas seeking to drive them, along with their Lebanese militia allies, from the occupied zone.

About 300 Lebanese students burned the Israeli flag and shouted anti-Israeli slogans in front of U.N. headquarters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to protest Israel’s seizure of a southern Lebanon village last week.

On April 15, Israeli troops sealed off the village of Arnoun in retaliation for recent guerrilla attacks, effectively annexing it to the occupied zone.