2nd tank drives over, detonates explosive device; 6 claimed dead in IAF strike.
By YAAKOV KATZ, JPOST.COM STAFF
Seven soldiers were lightly to moderately wounded near the Lebanese town of Bint Jbail on Tuesday, when a rocket was launched at an IDF tank.
A second tank that came to rescue the first, drove over an explosive device, detonating it. No one was wounded in the second incident.
The wounded soldiers were returned to Israel to receive medical treatment at Rambam Hospital in Haifa.
Meanwhile, the fighting in the area continued.
Lebanese sources reported that at least six people were killed during an IAF attack on the town of Ghaziya south of Tyre on Tuesday. Several buildings reportedly collapsed, trapping people in the rubble.
Witnesses said that among the buildings struck was the home of Hizbullah religious leader Sheikh Mustafa Khalifa. It was not known what was Khalifa's fate.
Israel Radio reported locals as saying that the strike took place during a funeral for 15 casualties on Monday's assault.
The army said that over 30 Hizbullah operatives were killed in the western sector of southern Lebanon. The latest figures bring the total Hizbullah death toll in the sector to 480.
Earlier, IDF reservists from Brigade 609 took captive two Hizbullah guerrillas overnight Monday in the village of Bint Jbail as the operatives were setting up anti-aircraft missiles that they planned to use against Israeli fighter jets.
In addition to the two, paratroopers from Battalion 890 caught three other Hizbullah men who were sleeping in a house in Bint Jbail.
Since the beginning of operation change of direction, IDF troops have caught over 20 Hizbullah operatives.
The group was known to have anti aircraft missiles, but the army has said it was unclear how advanced their weaponry was.
On Monday, F-16 fighter jets shot down a Hizbullah Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 10 kilometers off the coast of Acre.
A senior IDF officer said it was possible that the UAV was sent over to conduct surveillance for the Hizbullah, which has flown two UAVs over northern Israel twice in the past two years.
Several days ago, troops from the Golani Brigade operating in the southern Lebanese village of Ayta A Shayeb caught Hizbullah operative Hussein Ali Suleiman Suleiman, 22. He surrendered to the troops after he realized that he was completely surrounded. Suleiman, a high-ranking officer revealed Monday, was part of the 100-man force that participated in the cross-border kidnapping on July 12.