Israeli troops killed a wanted Palestinian militant and wounded another today during a raid into the West Bank town of Jericho on a Muslim holiday.
The army's first operation in months in the ancient town followed incursions into Bethlehem to detain militants on Friday and yesterday and demolish the home of a policeman who killed 11 people in a suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus on Thursday.
Palestinian security sources identified the militant killed in Jericho as Shahdi Melhem of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
An Israeli military source said troops surrounded a house and tried to arrest a wanted militant, who opened fire and was shot dead.
"Another gunman, outside the house, also opened fire. Our forces returned fire and he was lightly wounded," the source said, adding that four militants were detained.
Saeb Erekat, a Palestinian cabinet minister who lives in Jericho, which has been virtually untouched by three years of Middle East violence, said the army had imposed a curfew, barring residents from reaching mosques for holiday prayers.
"We condemn this incursion on the first day of the Eid," he said, referring to the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the festival of sacrifice. "People are confined to their homes instead of celebrating the Eid."