Israeli troops kill top Palestinian fugitive
Israeli troops killed a top Palestinian fugitive and a close accomplice in a West Bank shootout Monday, prompting threats of "unprecedented" revenge by the violent Islamic Jihad group.
The wanted man, Luay Saadi, was the leader of Islamic Jihad's military wing in the West Bank and was blamed for the deaths of 12 Israelis in a series of attacks in recent months. Saadi, 30, was killed in a hail of bullets as he fired on troops during an attempted escape from a hideout, an Israeli army commander said.
Also Monday, an international envoy accused Israel of stalling in talks with the Palestinians on opening a key Gaza border crossing and other issues left unresolved after Israel's withdrawal from the coastal territory.
Envoy James Wolfensohn has pushed for a quick deal, saying it's crucial for the economic recovery of impoverished Gaza.
"The government of Israel, with its important security concerns, is loath to relinquish control, almost acting as though there has been no withdrawal, delaying making difficult decisions and preferring to take difficult matters back into slow-moving subcommittees," Wolfensohn wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, obtained by The Associated Press.
The West Bank firefight erupted in the Tulkarem refugee camp before dawn Monday.
Israeli commandos surrounded an apartment building after learning that Saadi and his top lieutenant, Majed al Askar, were hiding there, said Col. Aharon Haliva, the top Israeli army commander in the area.
As soldiers approached the building, al Askar and another man ran toward a car parked outside and opened fire from the vehicle, wounding one soldier, Haliva said. The commander of the force returned fire, killing al Askar and arresting the second man.
Saadi, meanwhile, tried to flee through a back door, but ran into an Israeli force, Haliva said. Saadi opened fire and was killed by troops, the commander said.
Islamic Jihad threatened revenge attacks.
"Our retaliation for this crime will be unprecedented," said a spokesman for the group in Gaza, who only gave his code name, Abu Abdallah, for fear of Israeli reprisals.
In a statement, the Islamic Jihad's military wing blamed Israel for the breakdown of an informal, nine-month-old truce, or "calm."
Saadi's killing "reflects the serious intention of the enemy to end this calm, which we do not regret," the statement said. "We are not going to stand with our hands tied while the blood of our holy warriors is being shed everywhere."
Islamic Jihad, one of the smallest of the Palestinian militant groups, has been ambivalent about the informal truce, which has largely been kept by the larger Hamas group since February.
Islamic Jihad has carried out a series of attacks in recent months, including suicide attacks in the towns of Tel Aviv and Netanya. Islamic Jihad maintained the attacks were carried out in retaliation for perceived Israeli truce violations.