Israeli troops demolish homes of two dead militants

ISRAEL yesterday demolished the homes of two Palestinian militants who killed four seminary students when they infiltrated a Jewish settlement last week, the army said.

The two gunmen were shot and killed by Israeli soldiers after the attack in the southern West Bank Jewish settlement of Otniel on Friday night.

The militant Islamic Jihad group claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was in response to the killing of eight Palestinians by Israel during operations against militants last Wednesday and Thursday.

The army said its forces razed two homes belonging to the militants in Dura, a village on the outskirts of Hebron, and arrested four Islamic Jihad militants suspected of involvement in the Otniel attack. The army said house demolitions were carried out to deter further attacks. Palestinians and human rights groups protest against such actions as collective punishment.

Israel’s right-wing government has signalled it plans to strike even harder at militant groups behind violence against its citizens “The defence minister (Shaul Mofaz) and I agreed to apply heavy pressure on the terrorist organisations,” Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was quoted by a government source as telling the cabinet on Sunday.

Sharon has made the fight against what he calls Palestinian terrorism his key campaign platform for a January 28 general election.

The US has appealed in vain to Israel and the Palestinians for calm in order to shore up Arab support for any military strike against Iraq.

Abdel-Karim Salameh, 11, was hit in the head and killed by Israeli gunfire in the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Sunday while walking home from school, about 500 metres (yards) from a crowd throwing stones at soldiers, local witnesses said.

Israeli military sources said they had no information on Palestinian casualties and troops had used riot dispersal gear against the stone-throwers. Such equipment can include rubber-coated metal bullets that can be lethal.