Two SLA militiamen killed in southern Lebanon

Two militiamen from the Israeli-allied South Lebanon Army were killed Friday when Hizbullah guerrillas detonated a roadside bomb in southern Lebanon, security sources said.

The militiamen, Nicolas Assaf and Ibrahim Mansour, died instantly when a bomb, detonated by remote control, went off as they were driving by on a road near Kfar Falous, south of the SLA-controlled town of Jezzine. The sources said they were in a civilian car.

The SLA militia is armed, financed and controlled by Israel. Some 2,500 militiamen help Israeli troops maintain the zone which Israel carved out in 1985 as a buffer zone to protect its northern towns against guerrilla attacks.

Hizbullah claimed responsibility for the bomb attack, saying the group was responsible for the "large explosion" that targeted the two militiamen near Jezzine. Earlier, Hizbullah guerrillas had issued a statement claiming they ambushed the Israeli outpost of Toumat Niha in the Israeli-occupied border enclave. There were no casualties from the attack with mortars and machine guns.

Israel retaliated for the bomb attack by sending its warplanes to attack guerrilla positions and infiltration trails in the south.

The jets raided Wadi Karkha, few kilometers west of Jezzine, firing one air-to-surface missile over the mountainous area often used by guerrillas to infiltrate the occupied zone.

Israeli jets also raided Hizbullah positions in Iqlim al-Tuffah, or Apple Province, firing several rockets over the area across from the border enclave. The attack sent columns of smoke billowing from the region, but caused no casualties, according to the security sources.

Elsewhere, speaker Nabih Berri praised the population of the security strip and, specifically, the inhabitants of Jezzine, when a delegation from the area came to visit him yesterday in Ein-El-Tineh.