December 27, 2002	Friday	Shawwal 22, 1423

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RAMALLAH, Dec 26: Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli troops in four separate incidents on Thursday as violence swept the Israeli-occupied territories, where the army also arrested 15 suspected militants.

In the West Bank town of Ramallah, an Israeli undercover unit traded fire with two Hamas militants driving in a car, sources on both sides said.

One of the militants was killed and the other arrested, but as the Israeli army jeeps zoomed out of the city through the busy streets, troops also shot dead a 19-year-old stone-thrower, Palestinian security sources added.

The daytime curfew had been lifted on Thursday on the city, which has been reoccupied since June, and the Israeli operation drew the population’s ire.

Mustafa Barghuti, the head of the main Palestinian NGO federation, was on the scene of the second killing, which took place as crowds of people were out shopping.

“This is unbelievable. There is no security, everybody feels vulnerable in the territories, even when the curfew is lifted,” he said.

In the northern West Bank, a leader of the Islamic Jihad group, Hamza Abu Ghob, was killed in his Qabatiya home, which was then destroyed by tank shells, Palestinian security sources said.—AFP