The military wing of the Palestinian Fateh movement vowed Monday a "rapid and painful" response to the assassination of six of its members in Al Faraa refugee camp north of Nablus. Meanwhile, two Palestinian youths were wounded when Israeli tanks bombarded Rafah city in the Gaza Strip, said reports.
The Palestinian leadership blamed Israel for assassinating the six, all members of Fateh's military wing, Al Aqsa Martyrs.
However, Israel has denied killing them, saying that they were killed while preparing explosives.
Two other people were also injured in the attack, said Al Jazeera satellite channel.
Israeli security officials were quoted by the daily as saying all were on Israel's wanted list for planning attacks inside Israel.
Haaretz said the six were killed in a huge explosion early Monday in a shack near the camp, citing witnesses and security officials.
According to AFP, five were killed in the explosion, all aged between 24 and 27.
The blast tore apart the tin shack. Palestinian police at a checkpoint about 200 meters away said they heard a loud blast. Palestinian security officials, requesting anonymity, said the cause of the explosion was unclear, according to the paper.
An eyewitness told Haaretz there were no Israeli helicopters in the area, and the blast blew the roof off the shack, indicating that the explosion came from inside the structure.
However, Al Jazeera report indicated that a tank attack on the activists was a possibility, quoting Palestinian sources.
In recent weeks Israel has carried out targeted killings of Palestinian militants suspected of planning or carrying out attacks in Israel.
The six dead Fateh activists were identified as Mahar Jawabri, Abdel Rahman Mubarak and Hikmet Abu Habal, members of Palestinian military intelligence from the Al Fara camp; Munir Abu Jaroor from the Al Fara camp, and Amin Malik from Tubas village, and Mohammed Tayeh, the owner of the shack.
Last week, the same Fateh group claimed responsibility for the killing of a Jewish settler whose body was found in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, two Palestinian children were injured, one seriously, when Israeli tanks bombarded Rafah in the Gaza Strip, reported the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA.
It said that the Israeli attack was the second in a day, adding that Israeli tanks bombarded residential areas near the southern entrance of the city, injuring Fuad Shaath, 11, and Amwar Hammad, 16.
During the first raid, said WAFA, several Palestinians were wounded and a number of houses were destroyed.
The Israeli attacks followed a day of unrest in Jerusalem.
Israeli riot police stormed one of the world's holiest sites in Jerusalem after Palestinians rained stones down on Jewish worshippers following a provocative rally by extremist Jews.
A feared bloody showdown was avoided but 18 Palestinians and 15 Israeli police were wounded.
Police used tear gas and stun grenades to quell the violence which erupted after Israeli ultra-nationalists laid a symbolic cornerstone for a new Jewish temple near the Al Aqsa mosque compound, infuriating Muslims around the world.
On July 18, the Israeli security cabinet gave the green light to a policy of "intercepting terrorists," which was taken to mean targeted attacks on Palestinians accused of terrorism.
Such attacks have left more than 40 activists dead since last November.
Elsewhere, an Israeli civilian car was hit by gun fire in the West Bank but nobody was wounded, while in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army defused a bomb on the road from Gush Katif Jewish settlements, a military source said.
Near the Jewish settlement of Pisgat Zeev, north of Jerusalem, a booby-trapped car exploded, without injuring anyone, said reports - Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
