Israel blows up Palestinian police HQ in Hebron

HEBRON, West Bank - A massive blast shattered the Palestinian Authority police headquarters in Hebron at the weekend after Israeli troops were seen entering the building where they had said militants were in hiding.

"There was a big, big explosion that has destroyed most of the headquarters and has damaged other buildings around it," a Reuters cameraman said of the blast, which came after dark.

"We see a fire now and people are asking for ambulances."

Yet four hours after he saw soldiers moving inside the headquarters with flashlights and army vehicles bringing troop reinforcements, the circumstances of the blast remained unclear.

By the early hours of Saturday, there had been no comment from either the Israeli or Palestinian sides. Israel has restricted media access to Hebron.

The Israeli army had at first denied troops had entered the compound where it had said some 15 gunmen are hiding. But after the blasts a spokeswoman said soldiers were indeed engaged in "activities" at the site. She made no further comment.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties from the blast, which sent fire and sparks high into the air.

Hebron is the seventh West Bank city to be re-occupied by the army, which has placed more than 600,000 Palestinians under curfew after a series of suicide bombings.

Israeli tank shells had smashed a hole in the outer wall of the Hebron police headquarters earlier on Friday and bulldozers had moved in to widen the breach.

A former Palestinian minister who had gone in to urge the gunmen thought to be inside to surrender said he had found no one there. "It is a big place. I did not see anyone..." Talal Seder told Abu Dhabi television.

Israeli troops are now also stationed in six other West Bank cities -- Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin, Qalqilya and Tulkarm -- as they search for militants and carry out operations they say are aimed at destroying the "infrastructure of terror".

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has come under growing international pressure to reform his Authority.

In a communique issued after a summit in Canada, the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations said Palestinians must adopt democracy. They did not echo US President George W Bush's call this week for Arafat to be replaced as Palestinian leader.

But Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien said that, while some leaders disagreed with elements of Bush's plan to end the Middle East crisis, "collectively we were all happy that he has taken this initiative".

In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said envoys from the Middle East "quartet" -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- aimed to meet on Tuesday to decide steps to support and implement Bush's vision.

Bush said this week that Arafat must be replaced by a leader "uncompromised by terror," and that US financial aid to Palestinians depended on reforms and rejection of "terrorism."

The Palestinians have said they will hold elections in January, which opinion polls indicate Arafat is likely to win.

Israel media on Friday carried a photograph the army said it had found in such a search that showed a Palestinian toddler dressed as a suicide bomber, complete with explosives belt.

A relative of the child confirmed the photo, which the army said it found in a family album in a house in Hebron, was genuine but said it was a party joke and there was no intention of turning him into a suicide bomber.

At least 1427 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.

- REUTERS

Feature: Middle East

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