Israel Arrests Militant Leader in Attack at Polls

Israeli forces arrested a commander of a militant group linked to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on Saturday after the group claimed responsibility for an attack on an Israeli polling booth that killed six people.

Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade commander Maged Masri was arrested near the West Bank city of Nablus. The brigade, an offshoot of Arafat’s Fatah faction, attacked the polling station Thursday in the northern Israeli town of Beit Shean.

Palestinian sources said troops caught Masri and his assistant in a safe house. An Israeli security source said Masri had been on the wanted list for most of the 26-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israel, for “many terror attacks which he helped recruit for and plan.” The militant also acted as a spokesman for the group and had served as a Palestinian police officer.

Israel has captured or killed dozens of Palestinian militant leaders it says planned shootings and bombings. Masri’s predecessor was arrested nearly nine months ago.

An Israeli army spokesman said 18 suspected militants were also rounded up Saturday in West Bank sweeps.

In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, troops fatally shot a Palestinian teenager near the Karni border crossing, Palestinian hospital officials said. A second youth was hit by a bullet in the back and was hospitalized, they said.

An Israeli military source said that troops had fired warning shots when a group of Palestinians approached the border fence and that the army was investigating the reported death.

Later Saturday, about 30 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles backed by two Apache helicopters moved into the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, firing machine guns and tank shells that knocked out the town’s power transformer, witnesses and Palestinian security officials said.

One man was reported killed there, security officials said.

The soldiers surrounded a mosque and the local Fatah headquarters, witnesses said. Israeli security sources said the troops demolished the homes of three Islamic militants before leaving the town.