Tulkarem, West Bank — A Palestinian militia leader who boasted of shooting Israelis was killed when a bomb exploded as he emerged from his West Bank hide-out Monday. Hours later, Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli soldier and wounded another in a roadside ambush, security sources said.
The new violence further threatened U.S. truce efforts, and it was not clear whether U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni would return to the area later this week as planned.
A member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said the group carried out the shooting in retaliation for the death of militia leader, Raed Karmi.
Palestinians accused Israel of planting the bomb that went off exactly as militia leader, Karmi, 27, strode past on a residential street that bordered a cemetery. The bomb sprayed Karmi with shrapnel, leaving a cavity on the roadside and a pool of blood on the blacktop where Karmi died.
Without confirming or denying involvement, Israel issued a statement shortly after the explosion saying Karmi was responsible for the shooting deaths of nine Israelis.
"A man like this is a like a ticking bomb," Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh told Army Radio. "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."
Israel tried to kill Karmi in September, when army helicopters fired missiles at his car on a Tulkarem street. Two members of his militia were killed, but Karmi suffered only light wounds.
Israel has killed dozens of suspected Palestinian militants in targeted attacks since the fighting erupted. Israel says the killings are intended as a deterrent, but Palestinians condemn them as assassinations and they often trigger Palestinian revenge attacks.
Hundreds of Palestinians carried Karmi's bloodied body through the streets on a stretcher, clamoring for revenge. Weeping mourners crowded around the body, kissing Karmi good-bye and stroking his hair and face. One gunman fired wildly in the air.
Karmi's militia, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, announced it would resume attacks on Israelis that had been suspended following Arafat's call for a truce with Israel on Dec. 16. "The so-called cease-fire is a joke and is canceled, canceled, canceled," the group wrote in a leaflet. "Revenge is coming."
A group of the gunmen met journalists at a house in Tulkarem, where photos featuring Karmi and other militia members brandishing arms hung from the walls. The gunmen claimed they had observed Arafat's cease-fire for the past month in Tulkarem, but Israel had continued to attack Palestinians.
Karmi "has many friends, and maybe one of them will do something," said a militia member who gave his name as Abu Rabia.
A few hours later and about 6 miles southeast of Tulkarem, Palestinian gunmen shot dead one Israeli soldier and wounded a second in a roadside ambush, the Israeli army said.
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