21.   The militants used the time to prepare ambushes and booby traps and take up fortified positions in apartment buildings.

22.   The landing on Betio, an islet forming part of Tarawa atoll, was the first major U.S. amphibious attack against heavily fortified Japanese positions.

23.   The Lebanese Resistance Brigades, a Hezbollah-backed guerrilla group, said they attacked the heavily fortified Qantara position with rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns.

24.   The military said it cleared an area of several dozen yards around the fortified position to prevent attacks, the statement said.

25.   The twin-engine jet aircraft can be used against ground targets like tanks and other armored vehicles, as well caves and fortified positions.

26.   The three fortified positions are in the strip of land occupied by Israel to protect its northern border from guerrilla attacks.

27.   Their forces have the ammunition, strength and fortified positions to defend the capital for a long time, they added.

28.   There were sporadic blasts of heavy machine gun fire from Macedonian forces on Friday but no indication of any mobilization to leave their fortified positions.

29.   They lobbed Molotov cocktails at a fortified Israeli position a few yards across the border.

30.   They said their forces have the ammunition, strength and fortified positions to defend the capital for a long time.