The Israeli army spokesman, Brig. Gen Yoav Mordechai, told Israel Radio that one car had apparently been struck by an antitank rocket. Maj. Gen. Tal Russo, the chief of the army’s southern command, said two attackers also detonated belts of explosives.
A total of six civilians were killed along with the soldier in the string of attacks, which also included a mortar barrage from Gaza fired at troops doing maintenance work on the border fence between Israel and Egypt, the army said.
Gunmen opened fire on two Israeli passenger buses traveling near the southern border with Egypt on Thursday. At least five people were critically hurt. (Aug. 18)
Israeli special forces backed by helicopters pursued the attackers and killed seven, the army said. Roads to Eilat, which attracts many Israelis during their summer vacation, were closed. In subsequent sweeps, a border policeman was killed.
Israeli aircraft later struck in the Gaza town of Rafah, killing Kamal al-Neirab, leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, a radical group that has fired rockets at Israel . Also killed were Imad Hamad, the organization’s military leader, and other operatives, including the group’s rocket expert and his 2-year-old son, who died when the missiles struck their house, according to reports.
Following one attack in southern Israel, Egyptian State Television reported that border skirmishes left one military officer and two police dead. Security officials in the Sinai Peninsula said militants crossed into Egypt from Israel as an Israeli aircraft tracked them and fired when the militants crossed. It was unclear whether the militants or the airstrike killed the soldiers. The state news agency MENA reported that a “helicopter” tracking the militants opened fire. The report did not specify whether the aircraft was Israeli. The men crossing the border had their faces covered and opened fire on security forces, MENA reported.
The Popular Resistance Committees vowed retaliation and later asserted responsibility for firing a Grad rocket toward the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon. The Israeli army said that rocket was intercepted and destroyed by the military’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
Correspondent Leila Fadel in Cairo and special correspondents Islam Abdel Kareem in Gaza and Muhammed Mansour in Cairo contributed to this report.
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