Later in the afternoon police said they had ended their armed operation at the hospital, but returned 30 minutes later.

In reality, the armed operations against Arabs were the actions of small groups, or even individual Irgun members.

However, winter stifled their ability to organize and armed operations ceased.

"My job was to protect the fortress and manage any armed operations undertaken in the region of its license."

The police action earlier this month was the second major armed operation against extremists based at the temple since 1984.

In 2008/9 they carried out 154 armed operations down from a peak of 1,440 incidents in 2001/2.

They argued that armed operations could only have a limited effect on the heroin traffic, while risking the lives of the American advisers.

The Italian government understands its mandate to be a stabilisation mission, without armed operations.

The group began armed operations on September 11, 1971.

Most of them were released, and some have turned up again in armed operations.