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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elsewhere who wrote (23089)	4/2/2002 7:49:04 AM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 281500

At Least 20 Are Hurt as Israel Attacks Palestinian Compound Associated Press RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships shelled a heavily fortified Palestinian security compound near this West Bank town Tuesday to flush out top fugitives, setting ablaze two buildings. At least 20 of the hundreds of people trapped inside were wounded, the West Bank's Palestinian security chief said. In biblical Bethlehem, an Israeli helicopter gunship hovering over Manger Square exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen near the Church of the Nativity, built over Jesus' traditional birth grotto. Elsewhere in town, a 60-year-old Palestinian security guard was killed by machine-gunfire, doctors said. The fighting came as Israel widened its five-day military offensive against Palestinian militants responsible for a wave of anti-Israeli terror attacks, including six suicide bombing in the past six days. Early Tuesday, Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank towns of Tulkarem and Bethlehem. Israeli forces already control the towns of Ramallah and Qalqiliya. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, a moderate, said the offensive would last about three to four weeks, the first senior Israeli official to give a time frame. However, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said the campaign is not limited and would only end when Palestinian militias were crushed. In the town of Beituniya next to Ramallah, Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships shelled the Palestinian Preventive Security Service headquarters in an all-night assault, after about 400 people inside refused to surrender. Jibril Rajoub, who heads the Preventive Security Service but was not in the compound, said at least 20 people inside were wounded. Mr. Rajoub said the situation there was "very, very, very bad," but that he ordered his men not to give up. Israeli media reports said the main target of the assault was Marwan Barghouti, a commander of Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank, and that the military believed other top Palestinian fugitives were also hiding in the compound. After daybreak, there were no signs of life. An Israeli soldier in a tank said the Israelis had not allowed Palestinian ambulances to approach. The flames had ebbed, leaving two of the buildings in the compound smoldering, blackened wrecks, one with a shattered roof. Flames still leaped from one of the structures. Holes were visible in the walls of several other buildings in the compound. Soldiers stopped the assault briefly several times to renew demands that those inside surrender. In a statement, the Israeli military said many "leaders responsible for the recent wave of terrorism" were holed up in the building.

To: Elsewhere who wrote (23089)	4/2/2002 3:50:38 PM
From: Elsewhere	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 281500

This is a reply to the message about the shooting of the priest #reply-17273142 I posted it "for the record", assuming it was an account of an event which had actually happened and relying on the integrity of the news agency Reuters. Thanks to Haim for posting the correction in #reply-17275745 I post this follow-up so that anyone hitting the original article will find a direct link to the correction. JohnM, did you mean this New Yorker article? The Great Terror In northern Iraq, there is new evidence of Saddam Hussein's genocidal war on the Kurds--and of his possible ties to Al Qaeda. newyorker.com It's nearly 100 KB so I don't post it.