NABLUS, April 9: Israeli warplanes blitzed the last pockets of stubborn Palestinian resistance in Nablus late on Tuesday after 13 Israeli soldiers died in an ambush in house-to-house combat in Jenin refugee camp.

F-16 fighter bombers blasted the al-Yasmina district of Nablus’ historic Old City after Israel’s ground offensive in Jenin to the north led to the army’s worst single loss of life since the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, began 18 months ago.

It was the first time that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has deployed his warplanes since launching Operation Defensive Wall on March 29 to hunt down Palestinians behind a spate of devastating suicide bombings in Israeli cities.

The jets fired four missiles into the heart of Nablus, which Israeli claimed to have taken over but which was still rocked by sporadic fighting, witnesses said.

Sharon’s offensive had previously concentrated on high-risk ground assaults into towns and refugee camps with support from helicopters.

But the army reverted to F-16 strikes after 13 of its reservists were cut down in a well-planned ambush in Jenin.

A first group was killed when a booby-trapped building blew up as they entered it, and ran to their comrades’ rescue, an army spokesman said.

Seven other soldiers were wounded, at least one of them seriously, in the incident at the camp, the scene of the heaviest fighting in Israel’s 12-day offensive.

POWELL TO MEET ARAFAT: United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Cairo on Tuesday that he plans meeting with Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat.