Israeli troops kill top Palestinian fugitive in West Bank shoot-out

ISRAELI troops killed a top Palestinian fugitive and a close accomplice in a West Bank shoot-out yesterday, prompting threats of “unprecedented” revenge by the violent Islamic Jihad group.

The wanted man, Luay Saadi, was the leader of Islamic Jihad’s military wing in the West Bank and was blamed for the deaths of 12 Israelis in a series of attacks in recent months. Saadi, 30, was killed in a hail of bullets as he fired on troops during an attempted escape from a hide-out, an Israeli army commander said.

Also yesterday, an international envoy accused Israel of stalling in talks with the Palestinians on opening a key Gaza border crossing and other issues left unresolved after Israel’s withdrawal from the coastal territory. Envoy James Wolfensohn has pushed for a quick deal, saying it’s crucial for the economic recovery of impoverished Gaza.

The West Bank firefight erupted in the Tulkarem refugee camp before dawn.

Israeli commandos surrounded an apartment building after learning that Saadi and his top lieutenant, Majed al Askar, were hiding there, said Col Aharon Haliva, the top Israeli army commander in the area.

Islamic Jihad threatened revenge attacks. “Our retaliation for this crime will be unprecedented,” said a spokesperson for the group in Gaza, who only gave his code name, Abu Abdallah, for fear of Israeli reprisals.

In a statement, the Islamic Jihad’s military wing blamed Israel for the breakdown of an informal, nine-month- old truce, or “calm.”

Islamic Jihad, one of the smallest of the Palestinian militant groups, has been ambivalent about the informal truce.

Haliva said Saadi and his followers were involved in attacks that killed 12 Israelis and wounded 150. The colonel said Saadi was planning new attacks.