Mashalla Alhamdu liLlah Hamas Downs Israeli F-16

Mashalla Alhamdu liLlah Hamas Downs Israeli F-16, 25 Feb. 03

//HiPakistan//MLN//

Hamas claims downing Israeli F-16 -- Detail Story

JERUSALEM: An Israeli F-16 fighter-bomber crashed in the north of the country on Monday after the pilot managed to bale out to safety, Israeli military sources said, while a Palestinian militant group claimed its fighters had hit the plane.

The warplane crashed in Israeli territory to the north-east of the Palestinian town of Jenin in the northern West Bank. The pilot ejected and landed in Israel safely, the sources said.

The army said in a statement that the crash occurred due to a technical fault in the area of Afula, an Arab-Israeli town in the north. Air force commander General Dan Haloutz ordered an investigation into the incident.

The radical Palestinian militant group Hamas issued a statement claiming that its fighters had hit the plane with machinegun fire from Jenin, a claim immediately dismissed by the army. In the south of the country near Ashkelon, a military helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing, also owing to a technical hitch, Israeli public radio said.

It said the crash and the emergency landing were the first aeronautical incidents to hit Israel in two years. Meanwhile, Israeli troops pulled out of the town of Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip after a 48-hour operation, an army spokesman said.

Before they left the forces destroyed two road bridges and two access roads linking Beit Hanun to Gaza City. Those measures were taken to isolate the town and prevent it being used by extremists to launch home-made Qassam rockets into Israeli territory, the army said.

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