Last update - 00:00 09/11/2007
Police arrest 6 men from Qalansuwa suspected of raping Netanya girls
By Yigal Hai, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
Police on Saturday arrested six men from the Israeli Arab town of Qalansuwa suspected of raping two girls in Netanya on Friday, Israel Radio reported.
A cellular phone belonging to one of the 16-year-old girls who claimed they were raped by a group of five Israeli Arab men was found in the possession of one of the suspects.
The two girls said they encountered the group at Independence Square in central Netanya and proceeded to share alcoholic beverages with the group.
Soon afterwards, the suspects are believed to have gone with the girls to the nearby beach, where they are alleged to have raped them. The girls said they were separated from each other by the group and taken to different locations along the beach where they were raped.
The girls arrived at the police station in Netanya early Friday accompanied by their parents, and they filed an official complaint.
"We are interviewing witnesses and working to locate the suspects," the police said.
Be'er Sheva resident arrested for sexual assault
Police in Be'er Sheva apprehended a resident of the city who is alleged to have sexually assaulted a number of young girls. The man allegedly accosted a girl, 8, at the entrance to the girl's apartment building on Thursday. The man then fled the scene after the girl screamed. Investigators found a document identifying the man at the scene.
The suspect confessed to sexually assaulting four other girls, however indications are that his attempts to rape them had failed.