IDF troops kill senior Islamic Jihad leader, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades claims two attacks

Nihad Abu Ghanem, 27, was the top Islamic Jihad militant in the town of Burkin, near Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Palestinian witnesses said Abu Ghanem opened fire on IDF special forces who cornered him as he was driving his car south of Jenin.

IDF officials said Abu Ghanim was killed when IDF spotted an armed Palestinian. A gunfight broke out, and he was shot and killed, the officials said.

Palestinian hospital officials said Abu Ghanem was shot in the head, abdomen and chest.

He was the first Islamic Jihad militant killed since Israel killed a top leader from the group and his deputy in an air strike in the Gaza Strip last month after militants launched rockets into Israel.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/635379.html

Two young Israeli girls and a 16-year-old boy were killed Sunday afternoon and three other people were wounded, one seriously, when Palestinians opened fire on a hitchhiking station at the Gush Etzion junction, south of Jerusalem in the West Bank.

Shortly after the initial attack, Palestinians opened fire again near the settlement of Eli, also in the West Bank, seriously wounding a 14-year-old Israeli boy.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, affiliated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' ruling Fatah movement, took responsibility for both of the attacks.

The Gush Etzion shooting was carried out by Palestinian gunmen traveling in a speeding car. The gunmen apparently escaped to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, which is under Palestinian Authority control.

"A Palestinian passed by in a car, let off a burst of fire, and struck down people standing at the hitchhiking post," Shaul Goldstein, a settler leader in Gush Etzion, told Israel Radio.

Israel Defense Forces sources, however, raised doubt that Fatah was actually responsible for the attacks, saying initial reports thus far point to Hamas involvement.

Magen David Adom emergency rescue personnel rushed to the scene of the Gush Etzion attack from Jerusalem and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, Israel Radio reported. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, the "tunnel road" between Jerusalem and Gush Etzion was closed to traffic.

The victims were transferred to Hadassah University Hospital in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Ein Karem. It was not immediately clear whether the casualties were civilians or soldiers.

The Sunday attacks were the bloodiest assault in the West Bank since Israel completed its pullout from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank last month. Israeli security officials have warned that following the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militants would shift their activities to the West Bank.

While the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades declared responsibiliy for the Gush Etzion attack, an IDF source told Haaretz it was difficult to determine the validity of the announcement.

He said Al-Aqsa had in the past claimed responsibility for West Bank attacks carried out by Hamas, sometimes to help Hamas cover up for attacks that clearly violated its promise to cease-fire, and other times in expectation of monetary support from the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon.

The source also told Haaretz that it was difficult to determine at this early point whether the two attacks in the West Bank were coordinated.

David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, denounced the shooting. "As part of a series of humanitarian gestures, Israel removed roadblocks and eased up on the Palestinians," he told Haaretz. "The Palestinians have nonetheless exploited these measures, which has led to these murderous attacks."

The settlers' Yesha Council demanded in response to the shooting that the government and Israel Defense Forces close all West Bank routes to Palestinian traffic. They said the roads had been opened even though this posed a potential security threat to Israelis, Army Radio reported.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/635373.html