24 Israeli soldiers killed in south Lebanon on Saturday

A total of 24 soldiers were killed and 11 seriously wounded on Saturday as Israeli forces thrust deep into south Lebanon, the highest one-day toll sustained by the Israeli army since the start of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, local media reported on Sunday.

Five soldiers were killed on Saturday night as Hezbollah guerrillas succeeded in shooting down an Israel Air Force helicopter over southern Lebanon, the Israel Defense Force (IDF) said early Sunday morning.

The IDF said that the helicopter crashed into enemy territory and the bodies of those killed had not yet been recovered, confirming an early claim by Hezbollah that the helicopter was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile.

An Israeli officer and two soldiers were killed when an anti- tank missile hit their tank near the Wadi Sluki in the western sector village of Andoria, The Jerusalem Post reported late Saturday.

In another incident, a Nahal soldier was killed by an anti-tank missile that hit the house in which he was stationed, the report said.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli army confirmed that seven IDF soldiers were killed and some 80 injured, 11 of them seriously wounded, when the army expanded an operation into south Lebanon on the 32nd day of the conflict.

Over 1,000 Lebanese and about 150 Israelis have been killed since the fighting began on July 12.

Source: Xinhua