  (Abridged) Spectral and time variability analysis of the region of the hard
X-ray transient EXS 1737.9-2952 near the Galactic Centre (GC), using data from
the Narrow Field Instruments of BeppoSAX is reported. The main results are the
MECS spectra of the 10 identified sources. Fluxes obtained with spectral fits
are 1.7-4.8E-12 erg / cm2 s. The absorption is in the range N_H=0.5-6.7E22 /
cm2, indicating that the sources are at least at the distance of the GC, and
thus have L_x > 2-5E34 erg/s (2-10 keV). A powerlaw with photon index 1.1-1.8
generally gives a fair fit, but a strong iron line (at 6-7 keV) is evident for
5 sources and exists at lower confidence in the others. The fits indicate
differences in line position in the range 6.1-7.0 keV suggesting that the
ionisation state and/or emission mechanism may not be the same in all sources.
The time-binned data indicates that two sources are variable on a time scale of
hours at confidence > 99.99%, and one at 99.67%. These sources could be
low-mass X-ray binaries. The other sources are most probably X-ray binaries or
SNRs. A MECS spectrum from a subfield including 8 of the new sources and a
major contribution of diffuse emission yielded a fairly good fit to a power-law
spectrum with photon index 1.3 and a strong iron line at 6.8 keV. Another field
with only residual emission and no point sources yielded spectral parameters
close to the diffuse emission near GC observed by other investigators, except
for the high interstellar absorption. The PDS spectrum of the same region is
more difficult to interpret due to lack of spatial resolution and a larger FOV
that contains the bright hard X-ray source 1E1740.7-2942. The source for the
hard X-ray transient EXS 17137.9-2952 cannot be identified from the present
observations.
