Israeli troops quit West Bank village

Israel says it seized Palestinian militants in the raid

Israel says it has withdrawn its forces from the West Bank village of Beit Rima, after a raid in which it said it captured Palestinians suspected of killing an Israeli cabinet minister.

The Israeli army said at least six Palestinians were killed in fierce gun battles with troops after the army moved into the village on Tuesday night.

This massacre will not pass without (Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and his occupation army paying the price

Maher Taher, PFLP

But the Palestinian Authority said at least nine Palestinians were killed in what it called a "massacre".

The pull-out followed intense pressure for Israel to withdraw from its closest ally, the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to meet senior cabinet ministers later on Thursday to discuss whether to pull out of six other Palestinian towns Israeli troops have entered since the assassination by Palestinian militants last week of Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi.

Earlier, Mr Sharon told the US ambassador to Israel, Daniel Kurtzer, Israeli forces would leave within the next few days, according to the French news agency AFP.

Differing accounts

There are conflicting reports about what happened in the raid on Beit Rima.

Israel said the operation, involving tanks, helicopters and infantry, had been aimed at catching Mr Zeevi's killers and a number of Palestinian gunmen had been killed in the fighting.

"All of them fired on us. Had they not done that, they would not have been killed," said the Israeli army's West Bank commander, Brigadier-General Yitzhak Gershon.

But Palestinian officials said Israel had already arrested those it suspected of assassinating Mr Zeevi, while a resident of Beit Rima, Dr Bassem Rimawi, said the villagers had been "killed in their sleep".

The sharp increase in violence between Israel and the Palestinians has alarmed the international community and the United States in particular, which is anxious to maintain moderate Arab support for its anti-terror coalition.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell repeated Washington's demand Wednesday that Israel "immediately withdraw" from the Palestinian towns, while calling on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to do everything he could to "get the violence down".

US facing pressure

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan also expressed his concern at the "dangerous escalation" of events in the Middle East and urged Israel to withdraw its forces.

If the situation does not calm down, the United States will come under intense pressure by other members of the UN Security Council to support a resolution demanding Israel retreat from Palestinian areas or risk losing support for its fight against terror, according to diplomats.

Palestinians have appealed to the United Nations for protection

Israeli radio said two of 11 suspected Palestinian militants arrested in the Beit Rima belonged to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) cell that killed Mr Zeevi on 17 October, while a third member was still at large.

The radio named the detainees as Salah Halawi of Azzaryeh village in the West Bank and Mohammed Rimawi of Beit Rima.

It said the actual killer, Hamdi Ghuran, had recruited both men two months before the killing.

Dozens of Palestinians have died since Thursday when Israel reoccupied parts of the West Bank in response to Mr Zeevi's assassination.