OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, October 9 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Few hours
after Israeli occupation forces pushed into the West Bank and detained
15 Palestinians, a Palestinian blew himself up Thursday, October 9, near
an Israeli military checkpoint in Tulkarem, wounding two Israeli
soldiers, one seriously.
Al-Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of Fatah, claimed responsibility for
the bombing in a telephone call to Agence France-Presse (AFP) in the
town of Jenin.
The
group identified the bomber as Ahmed Safadi, an 18-year-old high school
student from the village of Oref, south of Nablusm, reported Haaretz
on its website.
Palestinian
security sources said Israeli troops entered Tulkarem soon after the
attack and slapped a curfew on the town.
Israel
said on Wednesday, October 8, it was sending troop reinforcements into
Palestinian areas and cleared the way for a call-up of army reservists.
Israeli
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz had decided to deploy the reinforcements
from October 22 to the West Bank towns of Jenin, Tulkarem, Qalqilya and
Ramallah as well as in the Gaza Strip, Israeli radio reported.
Observers
said the Israeli restrictions trigger feelings of anger and frustration
among the Palestinians, now suffering under continued closures and
lacking basic services.
The
Thursday bombing came after the Israeli army launched a new campaign in
the West Bank, detaining 15 Palestinians, Al-Jazeera television
reported, adding that seven of them are resistance activists.
The
Gaza Strip is already divided by Israeli checkpoints into four sections
and restrictions are tight in the West Bank.
Israel
says such steps are needed for security reasons but are dismissed as
collective punishment by human rights groups operating inside the
occupied territories.
Fresh
Palestinian Death
Also
Thursday, a Palestinian teenager was killed in a mystery explosion in
central Nablus in the northern West Bank, Palestinian medical and
security sources said.
Shadi
Samehna, 18, died in an explosion on wasteland behind the town's
Al-Watani hospital, security sources said, as the cause of the blast
remained unclear.
An
Israeli army spokesman had no information about the explosion, claiming
troops had not been operating inside the town since Wednesday.
But
Reuters aired pictures showing Israeli soldiers detaining a Palestinian
man during a fresh Israeli army raid in the Alein refugee camp near the
West Bank city of Nablus.
