 NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli troops killed a Palestinian terrorist gunman during a clash outside the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday hours after a terrorist militant was shot dead in an attack on a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Israeli military sources said troops fired on two terrorists gunmen in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus who had tried to attack Jewish worshippers en route to a nearby shrine known as Joseph’s Tomb.
Sources in al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of the dominant Palestinian group Fatah, described the terrorist militant as a dead comrade. They said he was 16 years old and was on Israel’s wanted list in connection with a Palestinian uprising.
Another teenager was critically wounded when Israeli soldiers fired on Palestinian stone-throwers in Balata, witnesses said. The army said troops had come under fire but did not shoot back.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces said they had handed to the Palestinians the body of an Islamic Jihad terrorist militant killed in an overnight attack on a Jewish settlement. Soldiers said they found grenades, a bomb and an assault rifle at the scene. The attack late on Wednesday was claimed by the group, which has a small popular following and less at stake in peacemaking than other factions. |