Israelis deny assassination

A top aide to the Palestinian intelligence chief was killed today when his car blew up in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians held Israel responsible, but Israel denied involvement.

Colonel Tayser Khattab, 52, was driving toward his office at Palestinian intelligence headquarters north of Gaza City when his car exploded.

Palestinian police said a bomb apparently was planted in the car and set off by remote control.

Grocery store owner Ziad Sharkh said the blast blew parts of the car into the air.

‘‘I saw Khattab passing by and then a minute later I heard a big explosion and I saw fire coming from the car,’’ he said.

The car split in two. Parts were found 20 yards from the site. A car seat landed more than 10 yards away.

Dr Moawi Hassanan said Khattab was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in critical condition but died soon afterwards.

A bodyguard was critically injured.

Khattab was a top aide to the Palestinian intelligence chief Amin al-Hindi, and was also a member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.

He was described as a senior bureaucrat who was very close to al-Hindi.

Al-Hindi’s office said in a statement that Khattab was killed in an ‘‘ugly assassination’’ by Israel.

But Yarden Vatikay, an adviser to Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, denied Israeli involvement, saying: ‘‘It’s again a Palestinian lie, and it is not Israel which carried out this explosion.’’

As one of the top Palestinian security officials, al-Hindi had sporadic meetings with Israeli counterparts throughout the 11 past months of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, as part of CIA-led efforts to restore security cooperation between the two sides.

But the most recent meetings earlier this summer broke down, with each side holding the other responsible for the ongoing violence.

Since the outbreak of fighting, about 50 Palestinians have been killed in targeted Israeli attacks.

Most were militants suspected of planning attacks on Israelis.

But several bystanders, including women and children, have also been killed.