ISRAEL: Israeli soldiers killed the local head of Islamic Jihad in a gun-battle in the West Bank city of Hebron early yesterday and later alleged he had orchestrated shootings in which 21 people were killed and was planning another such attack.
Israeli officials said the army would continue to carry out such "pinpoint operations" as long as the Palestinian Authority (PA)failed to "fulfil its obligations to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure" of groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
PA officials countered by accusing Israel of jeopardising the fragile six-week intifada ceasefire. And Islamic Jihad threatened to avenge the death with a response that would strike "like an earthquake . . . in the depth of the Zionist entity". The ceasefire was badly rocked on Tuesday, when two Palestinian suicide bombers struck, an hour apart, killing two Israelis, in what their despatchers claimed were revenge actions for an Israeli raid in Nablus last Friday, in which two Hamas activists were killed.
Mohammed Sidr (25), head of Islamic Jihad in Hebron, was at the top of Israel's wanted list, and is said to have organised a series of shooting attacks in and outside the city, including the killings of 12 Israelis in Hebron last November, four students at the settlement of Otniel a month later, and a Turkish and Swedish member of Hebron's international peacekeeping force. Hebrew media reports said Israel had tried in the past to assassinate him.
Overnight, soldiers surrounded the building where he was hiding - and which army officials said also doubled as a weapons factory - and ordered him to surrender. In the ensuing gun-battle, an army bulldozer tore down a back wall and army fire into the building apparently set off explosives there. Mr Sidr was eventually killed. The building was demolished when his body was removed. Israel's Defence Minister Mr Shaul Mofaz said Mr Sidr was a "ticking bomb", indicating he was poised to carry out an attack.
Israeli officials told American mediators in recent days there can be no progress on the "road map" to Palestinian statehood unless the PA takes responsibility for combating Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other extremist factions, a message the US has relayed to PA officials.