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IAF bombs Gaza tunnels in response to mortar fire

Israel Materials 18 August 2010 11:13 (UTC +04:00)
The Israel Air Force bombed targets in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday after two soldiers were wounded in a mortar bomb attack by militants.
IAF bombs Gaza tunnels in response to mortar fire

The Israel Air Force bombed targets in the Gaza Strip late Tuesday after two soldiers were wounded in a mortar bomb attack by militants, Haaretz reported.

Air-to-ground missiles struck several targets in central and southern Gaza, but no injuries were reported.

IDF Spokesperson's office confirmed that Israeli F16s targeted a smuggling tunnel in the town of Rafah under the border between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt. The tunnel was reportedly destroyed.

The planes also hit an empty building east of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis. The building is close to the border fence between southeast Gaza Strip and Israel.

The area had witnessed clashes between Islamist militants and Israeli soldiers, during which one militant was killed and an Israeli soldier was injured Monday evening.

Sources also said that Israeli F16s attacked a deserted area in central Gaza Strip. The Israeli airstrikes were believed to be retaliatory attacks to an earlier mortar-shell attack on southern Israel.

Palestinian militants in Gaza fired two mortar bombs into Israel earlier on Tuesday, wounding two IDF soldiers. Shortly after the attack, six Israeli tanks crossed into Gaza and one fired a shell at a house near Khan Younis. No casualties were reported.

The mortar attack was launched a day after Israeli soldiers killed a militant who the army said was planting explosives along the Israel-Gaza border.

The Israeli military says more than 115 rockets and mortar shells have been fired from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory since the beginning of the year.

Israel launched a three-week war against Gaza's Hamas rulers in December 2008 with the declared aim of curtailing such attacks.

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