Israel kills Hamas militant leader in West Bank
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-14 14:13

Israeli paramilitary border policemen shot dead a member of the Hamas militant group in a predawn raid in the occupied West Bank town of Nablus on Monday, Palestinian witnesses and the army said.

The raid came hours before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Jerusalem and the West Bank in a bid to revive peace talks stalled by violence.

Several explosions and exchanges of fire were heard as troops in 15 jeeps raided an eastern part of Nablus and arrested eight other suspected Hamas militants. Three other suspected militants were arrested in other West Bank raids, the army said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said troops opened fire at an armed man who escaped from a house during a gunbattle. She said troops later found an assault rifle, a pistol and ammunition on his body.

Hamas's armed wing issued a statement saying the militant killed, Amjad Hanawi, 34, was one of their leaders in Nablus. Palestinian witnesses said he was shot in the head from close range and there was damage to a flat which he used as a hideout.

Israel has conducted raids against militant hideouts on nearly a nightly basis since a suicide bombing late last month killed six Israelis in an open-air market in the town of Hadera.

Palestinians criticise the raids, saying they obstruct their efforts to restore order in the occupied territory to prepare the ground for peace talks under a U.S.-backed "road map" plan.