October 24, 2002	Thursday	Sha’aban 17,1423

TEL AVIV, Oct 23: Ten Bedouin Arabs, including a lieutenant-colonel in the Israeli army, have been arrested on suspicion of spying for the Hezbollah, police sources said on Wednesday.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the officer’s arrest and said the other men were civilians, not soldiers as reported by the police sources.

The police sources said later that most of the 10 were current or former soldiers. The discrepancy could not immediately be resolved.

Police said all 10 were from a town in Israel’s Galilee region, not far from the border with Lebanon where Hezbollah and Israeli forces still occasionally clash more than two years after the Jewish state withdrew its forces from south Lebanon.

The 10 Bedouin were arrested six weeks ago on suspicion of funnelling information to Hezbollah on Israeli army positions and activities along the frontier.—Reuters