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NAQURA, Lebanon (AFP) – Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called for the capture of Israeli soldiers, as the Jewish state returned the bodies of three fighters of the Lebanese Shiite movement killed in clashes.  During a ceremony to honour those killed, Nasrallah told militants it was their duty to try to capture Israeli soldiers, to use as bargaining chips for the release of Lebanese held by Israel.

"It is our natural right to capture Israeli soldiers, it is even our duty … it is not a terrorist act, nor a crime … but a natural right," said Nasrallah. Israel said that Monday’s clashes in which the fighters died were sparked by "a deliberate and concerted attack by Hezbollah aimed at kidnapping Israeli soldiers".

Beirut – United Nations investigators on Thursday questioned a Lebanese army colonel named in a UN report as one of the officials in charge of wire-tapping slain former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, security sources said. The investigators, accompanied by Lebanese police, searched the home of Colonel Ghassan Tufayli who was head of the Lebanese military intelligence’s surveillance unit, the sources said.

There was no comment from the Lebanese army or the UN investigating commission on the report. Tufayli was allowed to go after several hours of questioning. It was not immediately clear whether he faced possible charges. Lebanon has already charged four pro-Syrian security generals, including the ex-military intelligence chief, Raymond Azar, in connection with the February 14 killing of Hariri and 22 others near Beirut’s seafront.

ROSH HANIKRA, Israel (Reuters) – Israel returned on Friday the bodies of three Hizbollah guerrillas killed in a clash earlier this week in a move that military sources said was aimed at easing tension on the Lebanese border.The three were killed on Monday in one of the fiercest battles on the border since Israel withdrew its forces from southern Lebanon in May 2000 after a 22-year occupation.

The bodies were handed over on Friday morning to officials from the International Committee for the Red Cross at the Rosh Hanikra crossing on the Israeli-Lebanese border."The bodies were returned as a confidence-building gesture to create calm along the Israel-Lebanon border," a military source said.Four gunmen died during Monday’s Hizbollah raid of Ghajar, a divided village that straddles the border. Lebanese sources said the raid aimed, but failed, to seize Israeli soldiers who could be traded for Arabs jailed in Israel.