Posted on 08/13/2003 11:36:39 PM PDT by HAL9000
A special IDF unit operating in central Hebron on Thursday morning exchanged fire with a Palestinian militant, believed to be senior Islamic Jihad chief Mohammed Sider, holed up in a building in the West Bank city.
The militant threw a grenade at troops, who then fired anti-tank missiles at the building, causing a large explosion, leading security forces to suspect that a large amount of explosives was stored in the building.
Sider was thought to have been killed in the explosion, and an IDF bulldozer was destroying the building.
Sider, one of the most senior wanted Palestinians in the territories, is suspected of being behind the ambush on the Worshippers' Alley in Hebron in November 2002 in which 12 Israelis were killed, and allegedly planned the attack on the West Bank settlement of Otniel in December 2002 in which four yeshiva students were killed. The IDF had tried to arrest and assassinate Sider in the past.
Troops arrested overnight Thursday two wanted Palestinians in Nablus and Qalqilyah. An explosive device was thrown at troops operating in Qalqilyah, with no injuries.
Earlier Thursday troops in Nablus demolished the home of Hamas terrorist Islam Yusuf Kapisha, who carried out the suicide bombing in Ariel on Tuesday.
On Wednesday troops destroyed the home of the terrorist who carried out the Rosh Ha'ayin suicide bombing Tuesday. A curfew was imposed on the Askar refugee camp near Nablus early Wednesday morning as IDF soldiers encircled the house where Khamis Gerwan, 17, had lived.
The 10 family members were ordered to leave the house, without being able to vacate the furniture, and it was blown up. As a result of the blast, walls were seriously damaged at four neighboring houses.
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