WEST BANK: Israeli troops kill top militant commander Fadi Khafisha during a raid in the Nablus

Israeli troops killed a top militant commander during a raid in the West Bank on Thursday (August 31) and ended a six-day incursion in a militant stronghold in Gaza, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said. Fadi Khafisha of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group, was known for helping to prepare suicide bombings in Israel, the security sources said. They said Israeli soldiers shot him dead in the Old City at the heart of Nablus and that another senior militant was among five people wounded in the fighting. An army spokeswoman said there had been an exchange of fire in Nablus and that the gunmen opened fire first. "The forces returned fire and identified hitting the armed men," she said. She did not confirm that Khafisha had been killed. "We heard that Fadi got injured so we rushed to the Toot neighbourhood, not knowing that the army was still there in houses, the guys had Fadi on their backs and were screaming 'allah akbar' (God is great), I took Fadi and ran and they (Army) started shooting at us left and right," a medic working in Nablus told Reuters. An Israeli security chief said this week that Palestinian militants could have been emboldened by the ability of the Lebanese guerrilla group in holding off army assaults during a 34-day war. Israeli forces also ended a six-day raid in the Gaza militant stronghold of Shajaiya, Palestinian residents said. The Israeli army did not comment on the pullout. Troops killed four Palestinian gunmen and four civilians in Shijaiya on Wednesday. Israel has killed more 200 Palestinians, about half civilians, during a two-month-old Gaza offensive launched after a soldier was captured in a cross-border raid.

ITN Source | August 31, 2006

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