NABLUS, Oct 15: A member of Hamas was blown up on Monday in an explosion which the hardline Palestinian group immediately called the second Israeli assassination of its activists in 24 hours.

The car bombing in the West Bank town of Nablus came just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pulled his tanks out of a Palestinian hotspot in Al Khalil, boosting a fragile ceasefire but sparking a crisis in his government.

Two ultra-nationalist party leaders of the far right of Sharon’s coalition government said they would quit the government at the move, although the departure of the hawkish Israel Beitenu-National Union bloc would not bring down the government.

The killing of Hamas member Ahmad Mershud, 34, appeared to bear out Sharon’s warning that the “liquidation” of senior Hamas man Abdul Rahman Hamad the day before was “not the first, nor the last” such operation.

Israel resumed its widely condemned hunt-and-kill policy against Palestinian extremists on Sunday for the first time since Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reached a truce deal with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Sept 26.

A leader of Hamas in Nablus, Adnan Asfur, said the slaying of Mershud was “a crime which confirms that the Israeli government’s policy is to continue assassinating Palestinian freedom fighters”.

Hamas has refused to recognize the Arafat-Peres truce, vowing to fight on against Israel. The killing came as Israel moved to hold up its side of the truce deal, easing restrictions at some of its roadblocks.—AFP