 NABLUS, West Bank - Fierce clashes broke out in the Balata refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Nablus early Sunday as scores of Israeli troops pushed into the camp and began searching for wanted terrorists , Palestinian medical and security services told AFP.
As the gunbattle raged, a terrorist militant from the radical Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades was seriously injured when an explosive device he was trying to hurl at the soldiers exploded in his hands, medical sources said. Security officials said around 40 Israeli jeeps had entered the camp along with five military lorries, with three tanks seen surrounding the camp. As the shooting continued, troops conducted house-to-house searches for wanted terrorists militants, they said.
Nablus is the largest city in the West Bank and a known bastion of terrorist militant activity. The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades is a nebulous collection of terrorist cells loosely affiliated to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas’s ruling Fatah party. |