Gunmen kill Israeli soldier in revenge attack

Palestinian gunmen shot dead an Israeli soldier and wounded another in a retaliatory shooting hours after a Palestinian militia leader was killed by a bomb as he emerged from his West Bank hideout.

The new cycle of violence further threatened US peace efforts, and it was not clear whether US mediator Anthony Zinni would return to the area later this week as planned.

Hundreds of angry Palestinians carried the bloodied body of Raed Karmi through his home town of Tulkarem yesterday, blaming Israel for the attack and calling for revenge.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which Karmi led in the town, announced it would resume attacks against Israelis. Those attacks had been suspended following Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s December 16 call for a truce with Israel.

‘‘The so-called ceasefire is a joke and is cancelled, cancelled, cancelled,’’ the group wrote in a leaflet. ‘‘Revenge is coming.’’

Following Karmi’s death, the Israeli army reported several instances of gunfire in the West Bank in areas that had been quiet for weeks.

Revenge came only a few hours later.

Palestinian gunmen six miles south east of Tulkarem opened fire on two Israeli soldiers who had left their armoured personnel carrier to question two Palestinians, the army said in a statement.

Elad Abu-Gani, a 19-year-old sergeant, was killed, and an officer wounded, the army said.

A member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Arafat’s Fatah movement, said the group carried out the shooting in retaliation for Karmi’s death.

Palestinians accused Israel of planting the bomb that went off as Karmi, 27, walked by on the street. The bomb sprayed Karmi with shrapnel, killing him instantly.

Israel refused to confirm or denying involvement, but issued a statement saying Karmi was responsible for the shooting of nine Israelis.

‘‘A man like this is like a ticking bomb,’’ Israeli transport minister Ephraim Sneh told Army Radio.

‘‘He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.’’

Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat accused Israel of trying to sabotage Zinni’s mission.

‘‘The Israeli government is inviting Palestinian reaction, and we hold it (Israel) responsible for the escalation of this cycle,’’ he said.

Israel has killed dozens of suspected Palestinian militants in targeted attacks since the fighting erupted. Israel says the killings are a deterrent, but Palestinians say they are assassinations that often trigger revenge attacks.

Karmi ‘‘has many friends, and maybe one of them will do something’’, said a militia member who gave his name as Abu Rabia.

In September, Israeli army helicopters fired missiles at Karmi’s car on a Tulkarem street. Karmi suffered light wounds but two members of his militia were killed.

That attack was part of a cycle of attacks and counter-attacks that began when the latest violence started in the autumn of 2000.

Gunmen from Tulkarem carried out several shootings at that time and Thabet Thabet, a leader of the Fatah movement in Tulkarem was shot in the chest five times in a fatal attack that Palestinians blamed on Israel.

Several weeks later, a pair of young Israeli restaurant owners on a shopping trip to Tulkarem were seized from a cafe where they were having lunch and shot execution style. Karmi said he took part in the shootings to avenge the killing of Thabet.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, meanwhile, said Israel would halt the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, could not confirm that such a decision was made.

Israel said it demolished 21 empty houses in Gaza last week that gunmen were using for cover during attacks. United Nations aid workers said the raid by army bulldozers left hundreds of Palestinians homeless.

The ban would not apply to Arab neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 war. Yesterday Israel destroyed nine homes in east Jerusalem on grounds that they were built without permits.

In Washington, US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher called the demolitions ‘‘provocative’’.