A Palestinian militant group yesterday accused Israel of killing one of its top fighters in a targeted attack deep inside a West Bank city, promising to unleash a fierce response.
The Den of Lions, a group of young Palestinians that was formed out of frustration and disillusionment with the Palestinian leadership and its tight security ties with Israel, said Tamer al-Kilani was killed when an explosive device planted on a motorcycle exploded as he walked by.
The Israeli military declined to comment. The military has been conducting nightly raids in the occupied West Bank since the spring in what it says is a bid to dismantle militant networks and thwart attacks.
Photo: AP
The raids have ratcheted up tensions in the area and have been met by a series of Palestinian shooting attacks.
An Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Kilani was connected to a deadly shooting attack last week that killed an Israeli soldier, as well as several other shooting attacks in the northern West Bank.
Two videos provided by Den of Lions showed a person on a motorcycle parking and exiting the frame. The second video showed a man, seemingly al-Kilani, walking by a motorcycle and then what appears to be a blast.
Yesterday’s killing happened in Nablus, a city in the northern West Bank where, along with the militant stronghold Jenin, the Palestinian Authority has less of a foothold.
Israel accuses the Palestinians, with which it coordinates to clamp down on militants, of being unwilling to rein in lawlessness in the area.
On Saturday, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the West Bank city of Qalqilya.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that Rabi Arafah Rabi, 32, was hit by “a bullet to the head” at a checkpoint southeast of the city.
An Israeli military spokesman said soldiers fired on a vehicle containing three suspects near Qaliqilya, as the vehicle sped off after hitting a soldier when they tried to stop it for inspection.
“The soldiers fired toward the vehicle,” the spokesman said. “The soldier did not need medical treatment. We are aware of reports regarding a hit. The incident is under review.”
Earlier on Saturday, police said that officers “neutralized” a Palestinian stabbing suspect in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem after an attack that left an Israeli man in serious condition.
Police said the man was stabbed in the back.
Israeli media said the stabbing victim was a religious Jew in his 20s.
“His condition is serious, but stable,” a statement from Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center said.
“The suspect stabbed a passer-by with a knife and fled” the scene north of the Old City, police said.
They said the suspect, who is 16, was later found at a soccer field in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem, not far from the scene of the stabbing.
After a chase, the suspect allegedly turned to the police officer “with an object in his hand, the officer feared for his life ... shot at him and neutralized” him, police said.
The suspect’s condition is not known, but police said they had detained both his father and his brother for questioning.
More than 115 Palestinian fighters and civilians have been killed this year, the heaviest toll in the West Bank for nearly seven years, the UN said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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