Israeli forces have ended their deadliest raid in the West Bank for months after killing the commander of a militant group within Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie, also of Fatah, said Israel committed a brutal and ugly crime in Nablus, a militant stronghold. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the operation another impressive achievement against terrorism.
There have been no Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel since March. Israel says a West Bank barrier built with the declared aim of stopping bombers, attacks targeting top militants and raids to detain suspects have proved effective.
"Their motivation is very high but their capabilities have been severely hampered," a senior Israeli official said, referring to militant groups.
In the latest operation, Israeli soldiers uncovered a hideout in a Nablus house yesterday, killing Nayef Abu Sharkh, head of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank - and Israel's most-wanted man in the area - and five other gunmen.
The dead included the local commanders of two other militant groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Three Palestinians were killed in separate incidents earlier in Nablus.
Al-Aqsa, whose militants have carried out dozens of suicide bombings and attacks against Israelis in what the group calls a fight against occupation, promised in a statement unprecedented retaliation - "like an earthquake".
Firing into the air, dozens of gunmen marched with thousands of other mourners in funeral processions for the militant leaders after Israeli forces pulled out of Nablus's casbah, a warren of ancient streets raided on Wednesday.
Abu Mohammad, a senior brigades official, said Abu Sharkh's deputy had stepped in to replace him "but this time we will not announce the name of our new leader in order to protect him".
Israeli security sources said Abu Sharkh, 38, was responsible for numerous attempts, some financed by the pro-Iranian Lebanese group Hizbollah, to dispatch suicide bombers to Israel.