Palestinian guard killed in helicopter attack

A Palestinian suspected of involvement in the deaths of seven Israeli soldiers was killed in a helicopter missile revenge attack today.

A pair of Israeli helicopters fired several missiles at a small building used by security guards at the Local Affairs Ministry complex in Gaza City killing Mustafa Sabah, 35.

The Israeli army said Sabah was involved in three bomb attacks against Israeli tanks that killed seven soldiers.

After the first missile struck, driver Muhannad Abu Assi said he hit the ground, “and then I saw another three missiles coming at the same time. They hit the small room from two directions,” he said.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops searching for members of the militant Islamic Jihad group in a village near Hebron, came under fire, the army said. Soldiers shot back, killing two men.

Palestinian medics said they found their bodies with shots in the head among trees in a remote valley, .

Israel revealed today it detained an American doctor for two weeks last month on suspicion he had links to al-Qaida. Dr Khaled Nazem Diab was released last week and deported to Jordan without any charges being filed.

US embassy spokesman Paul Patin said that Diab works for the Red Cross, “he’s a qualified doctor, and he has been in and out of the Palestinian territories doing humanitarian work with children.”