Last update - 02:54 27/11/2002

By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Correspondent, Ha'aretz Service and Agencies

Israel assassinated two senior wanted militants in the Jenin refugee camp late Tuesday night. The two were identified as commander of the Fatah military wing in the camp and his Hamas counterpart.

Palestinians said the attack was carried out by an IAF helicopter. Other Palestinians said that the Fatah activist was only wounded and was being treated at the hospital in Jenin.

Palestinan sources said that around 11 P.M. a helicopter fired an anti-tank missile at a home in the camp, killing Ala a-Saba'ar, a commander of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, and Aimad Nasharta, a senior activist in the Hamas military wing. The two had been on the IDF's wanted list for some time.

No one else was reported injured in the attack. Prior to the missile strike, IDF tanks and armored vehicles entered the camp. Israel did not immediately comment on the incident.

IDF troops kills two armed Palestinians in Gaza Earlier Tuesday, IDF troops killed two armed Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. One was killed when he approached the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Rafah Yam and the other was killed during a gunbattle as troops demolished the home of a wanted militant.

Tuesday evening, police declared a terror alert in the Sharon region for several hours due to fears that a Palestinian terrorist had infiltrated Israel, but it was later lowered. Roadblocks were set up on major roads in the area, which includes Kfar Sava, Hod Hasharon, Ra'anana, Hadera and Pardes Hannah.

Soldiers killed an armed Palestinian and wounded several others, including a 14-year-old, during an exchange of gunfire early Tuesday in the Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah. IDF tanks backed by attack helicopters thrust into Deir al-Balah and its refugee camp, and proceeded to destroy the home of Mohammed abu Huli.

The army said Huli is responsible for mortar attacks on Jewish settlements in the Strip and for dispatching the gunman who killed IDF tracker Sergeant Major Shigdaf Garmai, 30, on Friday near the Gush Katif settlement bloc.

Witnesses said Israeli forces exchanged heavy fire with gunmen in the town's refugee camp, before withdrawing after daybreak.

In the West Bank village of Kufr Khalil near Nablus, IDF troops bulldozed the two-story home of Adel Mansour, a fugitive member of the Al Aqsa Brigades, which is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, Mansour's family said.

The army said it arrested 11 wanted Al Aqsa Brigades members in a sweep through the village that also netted 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives and a mortar bomb.

Overnight Monday, IDF troops arrested 34 Palestinians across the West Bank, including senior Islamic Jihad activist Mohammed Musalma, in the West Bank village of Doha, near Bethlehem.

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2002