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Israel captures Palestinian refugee camp

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Thursday, February 28, 2002

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.

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