Suspected Hamas Leader Killed

JERUSALEM -- An Israeli tank shelled a house in the West Bank city of Nablus on Sunday, killing a suspected Hamas bomb maker whose work is blamed for the deaths of at least 100 Israelis in suicide bombings.

Israel also started building a towering electronic fence that will protect three sides of Jerusalem against Palestinian attacks, Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on a visit to the area. In the assault in Nablus, the army said, special forces killed Mohammed Tahir, described as a local leader of the militant Islamic movement Hamas. Attacks attributed to Tahir included the June 18 bombing of a Jerusalem bus that killed 19 people and the June 1, 2001, attack on a Tel Aviv disco that killed 21, the army said.

A Tahir aide was also killed and another Hamas activist was seriously hurt, the army said.

The army on Sunday oversaw the evacuation of two tiny, unauthorized outposts for Jewish settlers in the southern West Bank, near Beit Haggai and Maale Hever, army radio reported.

Israel has almost 150 government-authorized settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where about 210,000 Israelis live.

Also on Sunday, a bomb exploded on a railway in central Israel as a passenger train passed by, damaging one car but causing no serious injuries, police said.

The explosion took place just north of the city of Lod, and police said they believed that the device was planted during the night. A Palestinian was detained for questioning near the site of the explosion, police said.