Thursday, 6 September, 2001, 11:27 GMT 12:27 UK Israeli missiles kill two Palestinians

Israeli missiles hit a Palestinian security post on Wednesday

An Israeli helicopter gunship has killed two Palestinians in an attack on a vehicle carrying members of the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement - but the main target escaped with slight injuries.

The Israeli army said the missile attack was aimed at Raed al Karmi, whose is accused of being behind several fatal shootings of Israeli citizens.

Palestinians officials said Mr Karmi managed to jump out of the vehicle as it was hit in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.

Israel has a policy of targeting and killing Palestinian militants it blames for attacks on Israelis, saying the Palestinian leadership does nothing to stop the violence.

Blamed for killings

In its statement, the military held Mr Karmi responsible for several shootings, including the killing of two civilians in January and two settlers in the Tulkarem area in May and June.

"The Israeli authorities had given al-Karmi's name to the Palestinian Authority for his arrest, but nothing was done to that effect," the statement said.

The two men who died in Thursday's attack are believed to be junior members of the Fatah movement. Three other people in the vehicle, were wounded, including Mr Karmi.

The Tulkarem attack comes a day after a missile strike against a Palestinian security post in the Gaza Strip, in retaliation for a recent spate of mortar bomb attacks.

-- Anonymous, September 06, 2001