RAMALLAH Ñ Palestinian sources said Israel assassinated two key Palestinian
insurgents in the West Bank with a missile attack.
The sources said an Israeli missile killed the commanders of the
ruling Fatah movement and the Islamic opposition Hamas group in the northern
West Bank city of Jenin.
The two men were identified as Fatah's Imad
Nasharta and Hamas's Ala Sabar, Middle East Newsline reported.
The sources said an Israeli missile fired from either a helicopter or
land-based system struck the house in the Jenin refugee
camp and killed the insurgents on late
Tuesday.
Israeli military sources denied that the two insurgents were
assassinated. They said they were apparently killed while they were
assembling a bomb.
The two Palestinians, sought by Israel for months, were said to have
helped direct numerous attacks against Israel in both the West Bank and
inside the Jewish state. Jenin has been the launching pad for Palestinian
suicide missions inside Israel.
In the West Bank and Gaza Strip Israel's military stepped-up activity.
Ten suspected Palestinian insurgents were captured overnight Wednesday and a
Palestinian was killed by Israeli troops near the refugee camp of Askar
outside Nablus, Palestinian sources said.
In Khan Yunis, an Israeli attack helicopter fired missiles toward a
Palestinian target in the Gaza Strip. For their part, Palestinian gunners
fired five mortars toward an military position near the Israeli community of
Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip. Nobody was injured.
On Wednesday, a Palestinian insurgent was killed when his car which was
filled with explosives blew up next to an Israeli army position near the
Jewish settlement of Netsarim in the Gaza Strip. The Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine took responsibility for the attack.
In El-Bireh, outside the West Bank city of Ramallah, Palestinian sources
said Israeli troops arrested Hamas member Marwan Abu Musa in El-Bireh,
suspected of recruiting suicide bombers for attacks against Israel.
Israel's military has reported increased attacks by Palestinian
civilians against Israeli tanks in such cities as Jenin and Nablus. Military
sources several tanks have been damaged by firebombs thrown by Palestinian
youngsters.
Brig. Gen. Avigdor Klein, the military's chief armored officer, has told
tank commanders that they must regard as a threat any attempt by
Palestinians to climb aboard armored vehicles. Klein reprimanded an officer
who did not respond to Palestinians who rushed a tank, climbed to the top
and stole a military telephone.
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