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Israeli forces kill Palestinian militant in West Bank

Posted on: Thursday, 28 July 2005, 11:13 CDT

TULKARM, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed an unarmed Palestinian militant on Thursday during a raid on his house in the West Bank, an Israeli military source said.

Palestinian security sources said he belonged to the Islamic Jihad group but were unable to give any details of the incident.

The Israeli military source said Israeli border police surrounded the home of a wanted militant in the village of Shufi, near the city of Tulkarm, in a bid to arrest him.

After the militant's family evacuated the house, Israeli paramilitary border police entered and fired at a door on hearing suspicious noises, killing the militant who was hiding behind it, the Israeli source said.

The source said the militant was found to have been unarmed. Palestinian medics said his body later arrived in hospital.

The incident was the latest to challenge an Israeli-Palestinian truce declared in February. Israeli soldiers killed a teenage Palestinian stone-thrower on Wednesday during a West Bank raid in which they detained an Islamic Jihad militant.

Two weeks ago, Islamic Jihad carried out a suicide bombing in central Israel that killed five Israelis. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said afterwards he ordered Israeli forces to wage a "relentless attack" against the group.

Islamic Jihad is sworn to Israel's destruction and has helped spearhead a 4-1/2-year-old Palestinian revolt. The group has chaffed at the cease-fire and says Israel violates the truce by mounting raids to arrest Palestinian gunmen.

Source: REUTERS

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