Lebanon Bombing Attack Kills Israeli Soldier; 7 Hurt

A roadside bombing in southern Lebanon on Sunday left one Israeli soldier dead and seven others injured, prompting Israel to promise retaliation against the Muslim guerrillas who claimed responsibility.

The Israeli army said 1st Sgt. Jedidia Gefen, 20, was killed during the evacuation of the area following the bombing, when Hezbollah fighters fired on the troops. It was the fifth Israeli fatality in southern Lebanon in less than two weeks.

The bombing is certain to escalate a week of fighting--the worst in six months--that has now claimed the lives of four Israeli soldiers, the No. 2 officer in the Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army militia and a Hezbollah guerrilla. An Israeli soldier also was killed in a guerrilla rocket attack Jan. 25.

The Lebanese government put its armed forces on “the highest state of alert,” a security official said.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack near Blatt. The group is trying to oust 1,500 Israeli troops and 2,500 SLA militiamen from a buffer zone Israel established in 1985 to protect its northern towns from guerrilla attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has pledged to withdraw from southern Lebanon by July, and he reiterated that Sunday despite the attack.

But Barak also promised retaliation, increasing the specter of more tit-for-tat attacks.

Israel “will retaliate for any attack coming from south Lebanon, and if it is Hezbollah; then we will hit Hezbollah,” Barak said in Jordan following talks with King Abdullah II.