(7 Feb 1998) English/Nat
Iranian-backed guerrillas attacked an Israeli position in southern Lebanon on Saturday, killing one soldier and wounding three others.
One guerrilla was also killed in a gun battle that followed the attack, according to officials.
The Hezbollah guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for the early morning shelling.
The guerrillas fired about 50 mortar shells at the Israeli outpost near the village of Yater, nearly two miles from the Lebanese-Israeli border.
One Israeli soldier was killed and three others were injured.
According to officials, Israeli troops retaliated by firing heavy artillery at suspected guerrilla hideouts in the Israeli-occupied border enclave.
No Israeli casualties were reported during that attack, but one guerrilla was killed in the gun battle.
The Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for the first attack.
Hezbollah is fighting to oust 1-thousand-500 Israeli soldiers and the 2-thousand-500 members of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia from the zone.
Israel has controlled the strip - about 10 per cent of Lebanon's territory - since 1985 as a buffer against cross-border guerrilla attacks on its northern towns.
The injured Israeli soldiers were taken to a nearby hospital in northern Israel for treatment.
Their condition is not thought to be serious.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We have four wounded. All of them are okay - wounded really slightly and I hope in a day or two we can send them home. I do not see any problem. All of them have many, in both legs and hands, several shrapnels but they are really okay."
SUPER CAPTION: Daniel Moshe, Deputy director, Nahariya Hospital
This latest attack comes a day after guerrillas killed two Israeli-allied militiamen and wounded two others in a roadside bombing in the occupied zone.
On Friday, a five-nation committee monitoring a ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israel ended a two-day meeting with an appeal to both sides to avoid attacking civilians.
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