RAMALLAH Ñ Israel's military has captured a Palestinian refugee camp
that officials said serves as a launching pad for suicide bombing attacks in
the Jewish state.
In the first such action in the 17-month-old war, Israeli commandos,
backed by tanks and helicopters, captured the Palestinian refugee camp of
Balata near the West Bank of Nablus on Thursday. The camp is reported as
having about 50,000 people.
Witnesses said Israeli troops engaged in house-to-house fighting with
Palestinian insurgents. They said at least a dozen Palestinians were killed.
Palestinian sources many of the insurgency leaders in Balata have fled.
Hours later, Palestinian gunners opened fire on Jerusalem. For more than
three hours, the gunners launched mortars and automatic fire on the southern
neighborhood of Gilo.