Islamic Jihad militant arrested in Jenin

* Israeli army unearths ‘attack tunnel’ in Rafah

GAZA: Israeli troops stationed in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah have unearthed a tunnel designed to launch attacks on soldiers patrolling the border area with Egypt, an army spokesman said Sunday.

Troops discovered a tunnel “which was dug in order to attack forces on the border”, he said, adding that it ran directly under a road where military vehicles frequently pass. A similar tunnel was used by Palestinian militants to try and blow up an army post in the area some two weeks ago, he said, although no injuries were reported.

Israeli troops arrested a wanted militant from the armed wing of the Palestinian radical movement Islamic Jihad late Sunday near the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinian security sources said.

Ismail Abu Shaaduf, 22, a member of the Al-Quds Brigades, was caught during a flash raid on Birqin village west of Jenin, the sources told AFP. Around 20 jeeps moved into the village after nightfall, provoking a barrage of stonethrowing by the villagers. Troops responded by firing tear-gas and sound grenades, they said. Five mortar shells were fired towards the Gush Katif settlement in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, damaging the roof of one house but without causing injuries, according to Israeli military sources.

An explosives charge was also discovered by an Israeli patrol close to the border with Lebanon, the sources added without giving further details. About 30,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were authorised on Sunday to work in Israel, a military spokesman said. Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei condemned on Sunday the international community’s “silence” following the killing of four residents of Nablus during a major Israeli army operation. —Agencies

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