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Israel captures 10 bombs at Arafat security command

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, June 12, 2002

Israeli forces seized 10 bombs being prepared for attacks in Israeli cities as security agencies braced for a new wave of Palestinian suicide attacks.

The bombs were found in the West Bank city of Ramallah, in the headquarters of the Force 17 praetorian guard headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Police have established roadblocks along major arteries from the West Bank to Israeli communities after a Palestinian blew himself up in the elite Israeli community of Herzliya Tuesday in the first such attack on the Tel Aviv suburb. An Israeli teenager was killed and 18 others were injured in the suicide bombing at a fast-food restaurant in a crowded shopping area of the city, Middle East Newsline reported.



Meanwhile, Israeli officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told President George Bush that Syria has delivered 400 improved Katyusha rockets to the Iranian-backed Hizbullah movement. Sharon's message was delivered during during his meeting Monday at the White House.

The officials said Sharon, briefed by Mossad officials, urged Bush to stop the Iranian and Syrian aid for the Hizbullah buildup along the Lebanese border with Israel.

Officials said this was the first time that Syria has provided direct military aid to Hizbullah. For the last 20 years, Hizbullah was solely financed and equipped by Iran.

But Iran is said to have been facing difficulties transporting weapons to southern Lebanon. Officials said Turkey has prevented its air space from being used by Iranian military transports to Damascus and U.S. Sixth Fleet warships are patrolling the eastern Mediterranean for military shipments to organizations deemed by Washington as terrorists.

For its part, Hizbullah is believed to be providing aid to Palestinian insurgency groups.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops killed four suspected Palestinian insurgents who had tried to enter a Jewish settlement. Palestinian sources said one person was killed.

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