A Palestinian militia leader who admitted killing Israelis was slain in a bomb explosion outside his West Bank hide-out on Monday, prompting his followers to call off a cease-fire and threaten revenge attacks against Israel.
Hours later, an Israeli was killed and another wounded in a roadside shooting in the West Bank, Israeli security sources said. The shooting took place near the Jewish settlement of Shavei Shomron, a few miles from the West Bank town of Tulkarem, the sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity.
Palestinian officials accused Israel in the bomb blast that killed Raed Karmi, a leader of the Al Aqsa Brigades militant group in Tulkarem. The group ¡ª linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement ¡ª said it was calling off a truce and would resume attacking Israelis. "Revenge is coming," the Brigades said in a leaflet.
Israel would not comment on allegations it killed Karmi, but said the 27-year-old militant was responsible for the shooting deaths of nine Israelis. "A man like this is a like a ticking bomb," Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh told Army Radio. "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."
The Al Aqsa Brigades militia said it would resume attacks on Israelis that had been suspended following Arafat's call for a truce with Israel on Dec. 16.
(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2002)
