Kesher Talk

Israel has taken care of Most-Wanted Terrorist list: Israel has arrested or killed nearly all Palestinians on its most-wanted list and now is focusing on capturing low-level militants thought to be rapidly moving up the ranks in militant cells, a senior Israeli official said Thursday.

"There's no doubt the top brass of the Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Tanzim [militias] by and large are either in custody or have been eliminated," the official said on condition of anonymity. Most of the terrorists were killed or nabbed during the March-April maneuvers.

On Sunday, Israeli special forces killed Mohaned Tahir, 26 and a prominent Hamas bombmaker in Nablus. The army said he was responsible for killing some 120 people in several suicide bombings. The Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz, said he was the last chief Hamas activist in the West Bank wanted by Israel.

The Israeli army has reported arrests of several "suspected terrorists" nearly every day since it entered seven West Bank towns two weeks ago and placed some 700,000 Palestinians under curfew. (with files from the AP)

UPDATE: Ha'aretz covers this as well.

posted by Howard @ 7/05/2002 10:14:34 AM