Gaza Car Blast Kills Top Aide to Palestinian Security Official

A powerful explosion ripped a car carrying a top aide to the Palestinian intelligence chief Saturday, killing him and critically injuring a bodyguard. Palestinians accused Israel of assassinating the official, but Israel denied involvement.

Later, a blast in a taxi near the West Bank town of Tulkarm killed a 22-year-old Palestinian woman and injured four other people, according to Palestinian security officials. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

The violence continued early today when two Palestinian gunmen were killed during an hours-long gun battle with Israeli troops in the divided West Bank city of Hebron, witnesses and hospital officials said.

Edris Ashour, 21, and Ala Saai, 25, reportedly belonged to the Tanzim militia, an armed faction of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.

In the first blast, Col. Tayser Khattab, 52, was driving toward his office at Palestinian intelligence headquarters north of Gaza City when his car exploded. Palestinian police said a bomb apparently was planted in the vehicle and set off by remote control. Two people were reportedly wounded in the explosion.

One witness, grocery store owner Ziad Sharkh, said the blast sent car parts flying into the air. “I saw Khattab passing by, and then a minute later I heard a big explosion, and I saw fire coming from the car,” Sharkh said.

Khattab was taken to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City in critical condition and died soon after, Dr. Moawi Hassanan said.

Khattab was a top aide to the Palestinian intelligence chief, Amin Hindi, and a member of Fatah.

Hindi’s office said in a statement that Khattab had been killed in an “ugly assassination” by Israel. However, Lt. Col. Yarden Vatikay, an advisor to Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, denied that Israel was involved.

Israeli military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that the killing was connected to a feud between Palestinian organizations. Although denying involvement in this death, Israeli officials reaffirmed the Jewish state’s policy of carrying out targeted killings of Palestinians suspected of planning and carrying out terror attacks.

In the West Bank taxi explosion, Abeer Samra was killed. Palestinian security officials suggested that the cause of the blast was either a bomb in the car or a missile fired by an Israeli helicopter. The Israeli army said it knew nothing about the incident.

Palestinian officials said Samra was the wife of a well-known gunman, Ahmed Tabok, a Fatah member being held in a Palestinian jail.

Meanwhile, an 8-year-old Israeli child was slightly wounded Saturday when Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a Jewish settlement in Hebron, the army said.