Last update - 00:00 23/02/2007
Hospital staff: IDF troops wound 3 Palestinian youths in Nablus
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
Palestinian hospital officials on Saturday said three stone-throwing Palestinian youths were wounded by rubber bullets fired by Israel Defense Forces troops in the West Bank city of Nablus.
They said Israeli troops came to pick up colleagues manning an observation position in Nablus when youths began to throw stones. The soldiers came under fire from Palestinian gunmen.
The Israel Defense Forces said its forces had responded with "riot dispersal" means after coming under fire from gunmen during a riot in which concrete blocks were also hurled at them.
Saturday morning, IDF troops discovered an explosives laboratory in Nablus.
Among the items found were pipe bombs, gas balloons and materials for producing explosive charges. Sappers detonated the explosive devices.
Since the beginning of 2006, seven such laboratories have been located in the Samaria region of the northern West Bank.
Overnight, IDF troops arrested five wanted Palestinians in Nablus, Hebron and Ramallah.
On Friday, Egyptian security forces discovered approximately one ton of explosives hidden underground near Egypt's border with Gaza, a security official said.
The explosives, mostly TNT that officials believe was recovered from land mines, were stashed in 34 plastic sacks, the security officer said speaking on condition of anonymity, because he is not authorized to give statements to the media. The explosives were to be smuggled to the Gaza Strip, he said.
Bedouin trackers working for the authorities led security forces to the underground hiding place in Nagaa Shabanah, a village a few kilometers south of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The discovery came as hundreds of state-security forces and military intelligence personnel conducted a search operation in the Sinai Peninsula for two Palestinians believed to be plotting suicide attacks on Egyptian tourist resorts, the security officer said.
Smuggling across the border into Gaza or Israel has long provided a livelihood for some Bedouin. Weapons, cigarettes and foreigners seeking jobs in Israel are all taken surreptitiously across the border.
Israel has repeatedly accused Egypt of not doing enough to stop smuggling of weapons into Gaza, particularly through tunnels. Egypt recently said it would make a greater effort to stop smuggling.