Three Palestinian militants, including a local military leader, were killed in a conflagration of violence on Thursday which also saw the firing of two rockets at a town in southern Israel. Two of the militants were killed in the southern Gaza Strip when a device they had planted near the Jewish settlement of Netzer Serani exploded, Palestinian security sources said.
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One of the two, Yunis al Abadla, was a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, while the second victim was named as Mohammed Odwan, a member of Islamic Jihad's armed wing.
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A local leader of Jihad's military outfit, the Al-Quds Brigades, was also killed in a shootout with Israeli troops in the northern West Bank, Palestinian security officials said. Zahel al Ashkar, 27, was shot dead in a field outside the village of Ilar, near the town of Tulkarem, the sources said. Dozens of jeeps had entered the area overnight where they carried out a series of arrests and searches of homes before becoming involved in the gun battle with Ashkar, who was wanted by the army in connection with a series of anti-Israeli attacks. A military spokesman confirmed the Palestinian's death, adding that he had opened fire on the troops. |