JERUSALEM - Israel says a Muslim militant found dead after a blast in the West Bank was the deputy of one of its most wanted men and that he was killed while planting a roadside bomb.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, which oversees Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency, stopped short of saying that Israeli forces had killed Mustafa Rawajbeh, a member of the Islamic militant Hamas group.
"He was killed last night while trying to plant an explosive charge along a road used by [Israeli] settlers and security forces," its statement said.
Rawajbeh was the long-time deputy of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, a senior Hamas military leader, it said.
In the West Bank yesterday, two Palestinians were shot and wounded in their car. Israel Radio reported that Palestinian witnesses said the shots were fired from a passing Israeli vehicle.
Israeli security officials have said a squad of Jewish vigilantes is at large in the West Bank and that it carried out several attacks against Palestinians last summer.
Jewish settlers have also been attacked by Palestinians on West Bank roads during a year-old Palestinian uprising.
Israel tried to kill Abu Hanoud, number one on its most-wanted list, in May by sending warplanes to bomb his Palestinian prison.
The Army said then that he had been slightly wounded and that Israel had tried to kill him twice before.
Outside the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian ambulance workers collected Rawajbeh's dismembered body from among olive trees. Spent bullet casings were strewn around him.
Doctors said he was killed by a blast but it was unclear whether it was caused by a tank shell or a bomb he was preparing.
The Army denied its tanks had fired in the area.
After Palestinian gunmen killed two Israelis at a Jewish settlement in Gaza on October 2, Israeli diplomatic sources said the Army would resume an internationally condemned policy of hunting and killing Palestinian militants.
But, under US pressure, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been trying to pull back from confrontation and keep a ceasefire alive as the United States tries to win support from Arab and Muslim countries for its war against terrorism.
The Israeli statement said Rawajbeh helped Abu Hanoud to carry out bombings in Israel in 1999.
He took part in attacks that wounded six Israelis after leaving prison, it said.
Hamas has staged bombings and suicide attacks that have killed dozens of Israelis since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted a year ago after peace talks stalled.
At least 624 Palestinians and 125 Israelis have been killed in the violence.
- REUTERS
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Blast kills Hamas man
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