The Israeli army seized a senior West Bank leader of the military wing of the radical Islamic group Hamas overnight, Palestinian security sources said today.
Mr Khaled Tafesh (44) the Bethlehem chief of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, was detained without a major incident, said the sources.
Israel has been looking for the veteran Palestinian militant for several years and blames him for orchestrating a series of anti-Israeli attacks.
He had been expelled to Lebanon some 10 years ago with 400 other suspected members of Palestinian Islamic groups.
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An Israeli military source said that an elite commando unit had seized Tafesh in a house near the Church of the Nativity, where Palestinian gunmen are besieged by the Israeli army.
AFP