Posted on 05/24/2003 11:46:53 AM PDT by yonif
The IDF's anti-terror operations in the West Bank city of Tulkarm continued Saturday afternoon, focusing on the city's refugee camp.
A large number of IDF paratroopers, armored units and Border Police entered the refugee camp Friday night after Israel's security establishment received warnings that terrorist groups in Tulkarm were planning to set out for suicide attacks against Israeli targets from the city.
The forces are reportedly conducting house-to-house searches for wanted terrorists and weapons.
The operation, nicknamed "Root Canal", which started Friday night, is aimed at uprooting the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror infrastructure, which security sources say has flowered in Tulkarm.
The Army said that the operation was open-ended and was based on terror warnings. The West Bank city and the refugee camp have been placed under closure.
Palestinians reported that three people had been arrested during the operation, two of whom belong to Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, while the third man arrested belongs to the Palestinian Authority's military intelligence apparatus.
IDF troops also arrested two American citizens and a Palestinian working with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement in the West Bank city of Tulkarm Saturday afternoon.
The pro-Palestinian activists were handed over to Police after consultations with the Interior Ministry, who will most likely have the women deported.
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