Isareli warplanes pound Arafat's office again

JERUSALEM, FEBRUARY 17: Israeli F-16 warplanes and helicopter gun-ships struck Palestinian targets including the office of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West bank city of Nablus, hours after a suicide bomber killed himself and two Israeli teenagers.

Israel defence forces said the warplanes struck three buildings in Nablus last night but no casualties were reported so far.

The attacks follow a suicide bombing in a pizza restaurant at the Jewish settlement of Karnel Shomorn, where a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were killed and 30 others injured. Police were on high alert today in Jerusalem after receiving warnings of terror attacks.

‘‘As a result of the continuing and escalating terrorism against the citizens of Israel and its soldiers, the army has targeted a few locations,’’ the Army said in a statement. An Israeli government official said yesterday’s suicide bomb attack was ‘‘a continuation of the campaign of carnage and murder of Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian authority’’.

Palestinians were quick to deny Isareli allegations. Israeli radio reported that the police had beefed up forces around entrances to the Hadera and Afula towns, where Palestinian attacks have occurred in the past and added that high alert had been sounded along areas close to Palestinian towns.

Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon convened an urgent meeting of the security cabinet to discuss the situation. Al-jazeera TV said the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack in the pizza restaurant. Reports said the bomber was 20-year-old Sadek Abdel Hafez from the West bank town of Qalqilya.

Over the last few days, Israel has stepped up military operations in response to new armed tactics by Palestinian groups. Reports from territories said Israel continued to enter refugee camps to search suspects in the West Bank and Gaza. Earlier last night, about 20,000 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv in support of peace and took out a rally organised by the Left wing non-governmental movement ‘Peace Now’.

They took out a demonstration against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and called on the Israeli government to pull out of the West Bank and Gaza strip and return to the negotiating table. (PTI)