Three armed Palestinians slain in IDF anti-terror operations in West Bank

Kassams fired at Sderot by Gaza terrorists; Palestinians fire on IDF Karni outpost.

By JOSH BRANNON
fatah gunmen 298 88 ap (photo credit: AP [file])
fatah gunmen 298 88 ap
(photo credit: AP [file])
Soldiers shot and killed three armed Palestinians in operations targeting the northern West Bank terror infrastructure over the weekend, army sources said on Saturday. Military officials confirmed troops from the Nahal reconnaissance battalion were conducting a counter-terror raid and searches in al-Yamoun near Jenin when a force providing cover for the operation engaged gunmen that approached the area on rooftops. The soldiers opened fire, killing two men and wounding two others. Ahmed Hassan, 28, was shot and killed as he stood on the roof of his home, medics and the man's family said. Relatives said he had gone up to watch an IDF raid and was shot in the head. The name of the second dead gunman is unknown. Two of Hassan's brothers were wounded, the family said. In a separate incident in the village of al-Farra northwest of Nablus, troops from a Nahal Haredi unit fired shots at locals brandishing handguns and axes. One gunman was killed, and a man with an axe was shot in the lower portion of his body. The wounded Palestinian was treated on the scene by soldiers and evacuated to an Israeli hospital, where he will be treated and then handed over to security officials for interrogation, military sources said. No soldiers were hurt in the operations and a total of four Palestinian fugitives were captured, the army said. Meanwhile, Gaza terrorists fired two more Kassam rockets at Sderot Saturday morning despite the IDF's stepped up presence in the area. No injuries or damage were reported. Palestinians fired on an IDF army post at the Karni Crossing Friday morning. The soldiers fired back and the IDF reported no injuries as a result of the attack on the vital food and supply conduit on the Gaza Strip administered by the Ports Authority. Also Friday, an Israeli air force missile strike destroyed a three-story structure used as a Hamas weapons storage facility in the northern Gaza City refugee camp of Jabalya, the IDF said. Meanwhile Abu Abir, spokesperson for the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees promised a "harsh and painful reprisal" following the IDF's operation "Footprints in the Sand" near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip that left two Palestinians dead, Ynet reported on Friday. The operation that began on Wednesday night lasted two days and involved regular and reserve ground troops, as well as armored divisions. Abir warned "tunnel bombs, rocket attacks, and suicide attacks in Gaza, the West Bank and the heart of the Zionist territory" will be carried out by the PRC in the near future. "This is the calm before the storm," he said. Abir also said the group welcomed an impending sweeping incursion by IDF units rumored to be in the works. "We will turn Gaza into a graveyard for the Israeli soldiers," Abir, whose group is allied with Hamas and partly responsible for the cross border tunnel raid on an Israeli outpost and the abduction of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, said. "No Israeli action will topple the government or quiet the resistance."