Military

DATE=06/11/02

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)

NUMBER=2-290786

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: A bomb has exploded near a school bus in the West Bank, injuring three Israeli teenagers, one seriously. Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Police say the bomb exploded close to an armored school bus near the West Bank city of Hebron.

The bus was transporting young people from a religious high school in the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Dozens of Israeli teenagers had left the bus to pick fruit in a nearby orchard. The bomb exploded as they were returning to the bus.

Three teenage boys were taken to the hospital with leg, arm, and chest wounds.

In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian who opened fire at an Israeli car was shot and killed by soldiers escorting the vehicle.

Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza have been the target of frequent attacks by militants during the current uprising against Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Also in Gaza, Israeli soldiers saw an explosion along the fence dividing the coastal strip from Israel. After a search, they found the body of a Palestinian man who they say apparently was planting a bomb that exploded prematurely and killed him.

Earlier in Hebron, the bodies of two Palestinians were found, one of them on the spot where a local militia leader was killed recently by fire from an Israeli helicopter. Palestinians say the men were killed for allegedly collaborating with Israel.

Israeli military forces remain in Ramallah, where they have imposed a curfew and are surrounding Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters. Mr. Arafat is in the compound and has not been hurt during the operation.

Israeli forces also launched another incursion and clamped a curfew on the West Bank town of Tulkarm

The Israeli army has arrested dozens of alleged militants in the past two-days during raids on Palestinian-controlled towns and villages in the West Bank.

The army says the incursions and arrests are designed to stop militants planning suicide bombings and shooting attacks against Israelis. (SIGNED)

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