Israel attacks convoy fleeing south Lebanon, 6 dead

BEIRUT, Aug 12 (Reuters) Israeli aircraft fired rockets at a convoy of hundreds of cars carrying people fleeing south Lebanon, killing at least six people and wounding 30, witnesses and rescue workers said.

They said the convoy that had left the Israeli-occupied town of Marjayoun earlier in the day was targeted by at least one drone near the wine-making village of Kefraya in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

''The night sky suddenly lit and we heard an explosion towards the leading cars of the convoy. I first thought it was a blown tire,'' said Reuters reporter Karamallah Daher, who was in the convoy yesterday.

''Cars sped in every direction and some crashed into ditches near the road,'' said Daher, who counted five rockets.

Rescue workers said at least six people were killed.

The Israeli army said it was not aware of any attack on a convoy and was checking the report.

About 3,000 civilians and 350 Lebanese soldiers and policemen had left the town in the large convoy a day after Israeli forces seized the area.

Several military and civilian cars were destroyed in the attack. Most of the casualties were civilians, witnesses said.

The convoy broke up with drivers heading into villages in the area to hide.

The Lebanese security men had been evacuated from their Marjayoun barracks by UN peacekeepers after high-level contacts between Lebanese authorities and world powers to pressure Israel to let them leave, officials said.

The convoy was delayed because all roads in the area had been destroyed or blocked, UN spokesman Milos Strugar said.

Preparations to evacuate the Lebanese force stationed in the area after Israeli troops occupied Marjayoun and nearby Qlaia alarmed civilians and prompted them to leave, residents said.

Israeli forces pushed into the area on Thursday as part of a month-old campaign to drive Hizbollah guerrillas away from the border and to stop rockets attacks into northern Israel.

Fighting raged in other sectors of south Lebanon, but there were no apparent attempts by Israeli forces, in places some 10 km (six miles) into south Lebanon, to push deeper.

Hizbollah said its guerrillas killed and wounded several Israeli soldiers in a number of ambushes, mainly near the villages of Qantara and Rshaf.

Dubai-based Al Arabiya television reported one Israeli soldier was killed and one badly wounded in the fighting. The Israeli army had no immediate comment.

Israeli air strikes across Lebanon killed 22 people yesterday while Hizbollah rockets into northern Israel wounded seven people.

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