Most of the wounded in the attack on the West Bank settlement of Otniel on Friday night were IDF soldiers, Army Radio quoted the IDF as saying Saturday. Four Israelis were killed and nine were wounded when a gunman infiltated the settlement´s dining room Friday night. Two of the dead were also soldiers.

The Palestinian gunman infiltrated Otniel, located just south of Hebron, at about 8 P.M. He opened fire and threw grenades at people inside the settlement´s dining hall and was shot dead during a 30- minute gunbattle nearby with troops who arrived at the scene.

A second terrorist, who apparently helped the gunman reach the settlement, managed to escape the immediate area, but was pursued by IDF troops a few kilometers southwest of Otniel to Dahariya, where he was shot dead. Three soldiers were lightly wounded in the exchange of fire.

Many of the people involved in the attack were yeshiva students. One student suffered moderate to serious injuries, and the rest were lightly wounded.

Medical teams evacuated the wounded via ambulance and helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be´er Sheva and Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack. The organization´s leader, Abdallah Ramadan Salah, said in a broadcast on the satellite channel Al-Jazeera that the attack was carried out to avenge the IDF´s killing of nine Palestinians, including Jihad activist Hamsa abu Roub, in separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday.

In recent months the Hebron area has been the main target of terror attacks in the territories. On November 15, nine IDF soldiers and three security officers were killed in an Islamic Jihad ambush in Kiryat Arba, while two weeks ago, two members of the military police - one a woman- were killed in Hebron. (© Copyright 2002 Ha´aretz 12/28/02)