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Two Israelis slain in checkpoint attack

Israeli soldiers at the scene of a Palestinian sniper attack against an Israeli roadblock in al-Khader in the West Bank early yesterday. Two Israeli soldiers were shot and killed at this checkpoint at the far end of a large concrete protective wall. PHOTO: AFP

A Palestinian gunman, his rifle wrapped in a prayer mat, walked to a West Bank checkpoint near Bethlehem and killed two Israelis at close range yesterday, just a day after both sides hinted a progress toward a truce and a quick Israel-Palestinian summit.

In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers raiding a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, shot and wounded seven Palestinians, and demolished three homes, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.

The continued violence threatened to undermine renewed efforts by the new Palestinian government of Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie to negotiate a truce with militant groups.

"It looks like we've returned to what was, and that the declarations of the truce were too soon," Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said on Army Radio of the shooting.

He said Israel would hold the Palestinian Authority responsible.

The shootings occurred at the entrance to a highway outside the village of El Khader, not far from Bethlehem, the source said.

Army Radio said the shootings appeared to be the work of a lone Palestinian gunman who hid a Kalashnikov rifle in a blanket, so that soldiers would not detect it. He managed to flee the scene into nearby El Khader.

Soldiers clamped a curfew on the village of El Khader and launched house-to-house searches for the assailants, the Israeli army and witnesses said. Witnesses said at least three Palestinians were arrested, and that troops fired tear gas to disperse schoolchildren who threw stones at the soldiers while setting out to school.

Israeli officials reacted angrily to the shootings.

"This morning's attack proves that the Palestinian terror industry continues to flourish," David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers raided a refugee camp in the Rafah area, in a "preventive" operation, an Israeli army spokesman said and declined to elaborate.

Palestinian medics said soldiers shot and wounded seven Palestinians, and that three were listed in serious condition.
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