P.L.O. revenge vow after raids

Press, 22 December 1978, Page 5

P.L.O. revenge vow after raids

NZPA-Reuter Beiruti Waves of Israeli warplanes have blasted Palestin ian refugee camps in south Lebanon, and the Palestine Liberation Organisation high command vowed swift revenge.

A communique yesterday said two civilians had been killed and 11 wounded in the 40-minute strikes at two refugee camps and a civilian village along a 30km stretch of south Lebanon’s coastal highway.

The communique identified the targets as the refugee camp of Bourj-el-Shimaii and the Wasta refugee camp at Qasumieh on the Eastern and northern outskirts of the port of Tyre, 80km

south of Beirut. The third target was identified as the village of Dahr-el-Bourj, 11km south-east of Sidon, midway between Tyre' and Beirut. “Eight enemy jets participated in the criminal attack against all three eivilan targets, killing one Palestinian woman and one man and wounding 11, including a child,” the communique said. It rejected Israel’s claim that the raids had been a retaliation for 14 guerrilla terror attacks that killed four persons and wounded 67 in the last month. The communique said the raiding planes had pounded the three sites with dozens of rockets and heavy bombs, wrecking many houses.