NABLUS, West Bank, Aug 31 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Hours after abducting a Hamas leader in Ramallah, Israeli forces committed a massacre in Nablus, assassinating a leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in Nablus, and killing four others, including two children on Saturday, Palestinian sources said.

Rafaat Daraghmeh, 26, was the leader of the Brigades, the military wing of Fatah Resistance group for the town of Tubas, and also a member of the Palestinian military intelligence service, Palestinian security sources said, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israeli helicopters fired three missiles and blew up a car he and two others were riding. His body and those of two 15-year-old boys -- Yazid Abdelrazak and Sari Sbeih -- were found charred inside the destroyed vehicle near Tubas located some 20 kilometres (12 miles) southeast of Jenin.

Two children, Bahira Daraghmeh, 6, and Osama Daraghmeh, 10, who were standing near the car when it was blown up by Apache attack helicopters, were also killed, according to Palestinian medical sources.

It was not clear if they were directly related to Rafaat since the Daraghmeh family is one of the largest in the area. Another 10 bystanders were also wounded in the explosions, they said.

The latest deaths bring the toll from almost two years of unrest to 2,468, including 1,823 Palestinians and 602 Israelis, according to an AFP count.

The Israeli army would not comment on its latest "targeted killing," a tactic which has been used to eliminate dozens of resistance fighters since the intifada erupted 23 months ago.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli occupation forces abducted Hassan Yousef, a leading member of the Islamic Resistance Group, Hamas, group at his hide-out in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian security officials and witnesses said, news agencies reported.

In an ongoing operation, Israeli soldiers rounded up and blindfolded men in the center of Ramallah after storming a house in the town of El Bireh near this West Bank city where he was kidnapped. Yousef was taken away along with another blindfolded man whose identity was not known, the security officials said, the Agency France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Yousef was led into an Israeli military vehicle after being taken from a house he had used as a hide-out in the city center.

The Israeli occupation army said it could not immediately comment because the operation was ongoing.

“Israel is playing with fire and the continuation of arrests, assassinations and aggression against our people and against our leaders will not stop the resistance,” said Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas leader in Gaza, upon hearing the news of Yousef's abduction, AFP added.

“We warn the occupation against any attempt on the life of Sheik Yousef and all the others arrested,” he said.

Yousef is the leader of Hamas' political wing in the West Bank and has long been wanted by Israel.