Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group inside Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility today for the killing of an Israeli settler couple in the West Bank.
The 30-year-old man and his wife (25) were shot dead in their car outside the Jewish settlement of Eshkolot yesterday night. Israeli security sources said military trackers were searching nearby Palestinian towns for the gunmen.
A Brigades spokesman claimed responsibility for the drive-by shooting in call to reporters in the West Bank city of Jenin.
The Brigades have recently stepped up attacks amid rancour over an Israeli barrier going up in the West Bank. Israel calls it a security precaution. Palestinians call it a land-grab.
On Thursday, two Brigades gunmen killed an Israeli soldier on the Gaza Strip boundary before being shot dead by troops.
Israel points to Brigades operations as evidence that Mr Arafat has fomented violence during a more than three-year-old Palestinian uprising. He denies involvement.
Dismantling the Brigades was up for discussion at a reform debate by Fatah's Revolutionary Council, a key decision-making organ in the Palestinian Authority, due to end on Saturday.
But Palestinian officials said the faction was powerless to act against the group, comprising roving bands in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that have become increasingly fragmented and autonomous under Israeli military crackdowns.