RAMALLAH Ñ Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, amid U.S. and European pressure, has ordered his security services to arrest suspected Islamic insurgents.

Palestinian sources said a handful of members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been arrested in the wake of Thursday's bombing in Jerusalem in which 16 people were killed. Both Hamas and Jihad claimed responsibility for the bombing.

A senior Palestinian security official, Col. Tawfik Tirawi, confirmed the arrests over the last week. Tirawi, head of Palestinian Authority General Intelligence agency, said the arrests were carried out to protect the Palestinians from Israeli assassinations.

Israeli military sources said three Hamas and three Jihad members were arrested. The sources said the members were on a list of suspected Palestinian insurgents submitted by Israel.

One of the Jihad members was Hassin Abu Nasser, suspected of attempting to bomb an Israeli city. In Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority arrested Abdullah Barghouti, said to have sent the suicide bomber on his mission to Jerusalem last week.

Palestinian sources said Arafat received a telephone call from U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who appealed for the arrests. They said the arrests did not meet with resistance from either Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Over the weekend, Israeli police maintained guard over Palestinian facilities seized by the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon said he would not relinquish control over the Orient House, regarded as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Jerusalem.

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