Suicide bomb mastermind among West Bank dead

Two Palestinian militia leaders were killed in fighting in the West Bank today, including the suspected mastermind of last week’s Passover suicide bombing that killed 26 people and triggered Israel’s military offensive.

The alleged bombing mastermind, Qeis Odwan, headed Izzedine al Qassam, the military wing of the Islamic militant group Hamas, in the northern West Bank.

Odwan and five other members of Izzedine al Qassam were killed when Israeli forces shelled their hideout in the West Bank town of Tubas, according to Hamas sources and Israel TV.

Palestinian witnesses in the town said that soldiers called on the men to surrender, but that the fugitives opened fire. Witnesses said helicopters and tanks then shelled the hideout. Soldiers had local residents extricate the bodies and then flattened the house with bulldozers, witnesses said.

The army had no comment on the raid.

Hamas sources said Odwan took over as leader of Izzedine al Qassam in the northern West Bank several months ago. The group has carried out a series of suicide bombings in Israel, including the Passover attack on March 27 and a bombing in the northern port city of Haifa on March 31, in which 15 people were killed.

In the West Bank city of Nablus, Nasser Awais, leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, was killed when explosives strapped to his body went off prematurely, a militia spokesman, Abu Mujahed, said.

At the time, Awais and other gunmen were seeking cover from advancing Israeli troops in the old city of Nablus, a stronghold of militants.

Awais was responsible for scores of shooting and bombing attacks on Israelis in the past 18 months of fighting. He had escaped Israeli troops in the past, including last month when Israel raided the Balata refugee camp near Nablus where he lived.