Israeli troops hunted for Palestinian militants in and around the West Bank city of Nablus today, trading gunfire with armed men in a mosque and storming an apartment building where gunmen were thought to be hiding.
Nablus district governor Kamal Sheikh said the Israeli jeeps and bulldozers began leaving the city late in the morning and by afternoon were all gone.
The army, which began its raids on Nablus on Sunday, said it could not confirm today's withdrawal was final. The manhunt has been the military's largest West Bank operation since July.
The army, which has uncovered three explosives labs in the city this week, says most suicide bombers who have attacked Israeli targets over the past year came from the city, a militant stronghold. Troops raiding the outlying Al-Faraa refugee camp at dawn today traded shots with three Palestinians holed up in a mosque there, the army and Palestinian officials said.
The army said the three men fired at troops from inside the mosque, and that soldiers returned fire. In downtown Nablus, soldiers left the narrow stone alleyways of the Old City, where the operation had centred since it began on Sunday, lifting a curfew that confined tens of thousands of people to their homes.
The Israelis then regrouped around an apartment building in a newer neighbourhood, ringing it with jeeps and armoured vehicles, and calling through loudspeakers for the surrender of wanted men thought to be in the The army said it has arrested 10 wanted militants since the operation began.
One Palestinian civilian has been killed. Palestinian leaders have charged that the raid is an Israeli attempt to undermine Palestinian efforts to form a unity government. Hamas and the rival Fatah movement are trying to finalise a power-sharing deal that they hope will halt months of infighting and reinstate at least some frozen international funding.
AP