Israel raids kill 10 Palestinians

It is the bloodiest day in the West Bank for months

Ten Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces making back-to-back raids in two northern West Bank towns.

Fighting began in Nablus before dawn when troops from an elite commando unit surrounded a building holding suspected militants in the Old City.

Five fighters from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and another group were killed. A Palestinian girl was shot by troops after the fighting, witnesses said.

Israeli forces later raided Jenin where they killed at least four people.

The two operations are reported to have resulted in the highest Palestinian death toll in the West Bank for months.

The violence came as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made it clear in a press interview that Israel would not be following the US-backed plan known as the roadmap.

Mr Sharon is facing strong opposition from the Israeli right over his alternative to the roadmap, a unilateral "disengagement" plan including Israeli withdrawal from parts of the occupied territories.

Fighting ended

An Israeli commander said the armed men had forced their way into the building in Nablus after being spotted by troops.

Mariam al-Nahleh, 11, was hit by gunfire when she went outside after most of the soldiers had withdrawn, witnesses said.

"She was watching the ambulances taking away the bodies when soldiers posted on the roof of a house shot at her, hitting her in the face," her grandmother, Mouyassar al-Nahleh, told AFP.

The mother of one the armed men inside the building said he had spoken to her before the killings and said the men had run out of ammunition, Associated Press reported.

After news of the killings spread through the city, clashes broke out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian stone-throwers.

Ten Palestinians were reported wounded during the demonstrations, including a 14-year-old boy, who medics said was in a serious condition in hospital.

Militant stronghold

The Jenin raid targeted the flashpoint town's industrial zone where the four men were killed.

The area is a stronghold of the al-Aqsa Martyrs, who have been behind a string of anti-Israeli attacks during the four-year Palestinian uprising.

Families collected belongings after the night-time destruction in Mughraq

One of the dead was identified as Fadi Zakarneh, an al-Aqsa fugitive.

Some Palestinian witnesses said the other three were bystanders, although other Palestinian sources confirmed them as militants.

On Monday, Mahmoud Khalifa, a senior member of the al-Aqsa Brigades, was killed in Jenin along with two other militants.

Afterwards, leaders of the group threatened to take immediate revenge with an attack on Israel's commercial capital Tel Aviv.

They dispatched a suicide bomber on Tuesday who blew himself up after riding by bicycle to an Israeli checkpoint near Qalqilya. Two soldiers were wounded.

Overnight, at least seven Palestinian houses were also destroyed by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip during a series of incursions.

Armoured Israeli vehicles thrust into the village of Mughraq near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and demolished several homes before withdrawing at dawn.