February 17, 2003	Monday	Zul Hijjah 15, 1423

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GAZA CITY, Feb 16: Six Hamas militants were killed on Sunday in a blast blamed by its leaders on Israel, as three other Palestinians were killed, and 28 wounded, in an Israeli raid in Nablus to snatch a senior PLO official.

Israel sealed off the territories indefinitely.

The blast in the Gaza City home of a Hamas member, which killed six members of the hardline group’s armed wing, came after Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz threatened a tough response following a bomb blast Saturday that gutted an Israeli tank and killed four soldiers.

Hamas leader Abdelaziz al-Rantissi said Israel was behind the “assassination” of the militants.

“This is a terrorist operation, 100 percent a Zionist assassination,” he told AFP. “The Zionist occupier will pay a heavy price for this.”

Palestinian police said they were still investigating the cause of the blast, while the Israeli army declined to comment.

Three Palestinians were also killed in clashes in Nablus as the Israeli army, which has reoccupied almost the entire West Bank since last June, raided the office of Taysir Khaled, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).—AFP