Hamas Member Suspected in Bombings Is Captured

Israeli soldiers Friday shot and wounded a top member of the militant Islamic group Hamas who is suspected of planning suicide bombings, Israel’s state-run Channel One television said.

It said troops captured Hassan Salameh during a vehicle search, which uncovered guns, in Hebron. The car’s driver was also arrested.

Salameh, taken to a hospital in Hebron, is suspected of planning three of the four suicide bombings in Israel in February and March that killed more than 60 people, including two Americans.

Israel and Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Authority cracked down on Islamic militants after the attacks, arresting hundreds of suspected militants.

Israel, on a heightened security alert for fear of a Palestinian suicide attack ahead of May 29 national elections, tightened a closure imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the bombings.

Hebron, a flash point for violence, is the only West Bank city where Jews live among Palestinians. Israel delayed a planned army redeployment there, citing security concerns.

Hamas, which opposes the Palestine Liberation Organization’s 1993 peace deal with Israel, called on its military wing Friday to refrain from attacks against Israel ahead of the Jewish state’s elections.

“We appeal and demand from you not to take any step in coming days before Israel’s elections so that no one can interpret that we are a tool serving the interests of one Zionist party over another,” Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar told a Gaza rally of the Islamic National Salvation Party.

The bombings by Islamic militants wiped out Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ huge lead in opinion polls over his right-wing rival, Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, Peres has a lead over Netanyahu hovering around five percentage points.

Peres has said that Iran is encouraging and supporting the bombers because it wants him and his party to lose the elections and thus torpedo the peace process.