MIDDLE EAST: Palestinian security forces yesterday arrested eight suspects in the bombing of a US convoy in Gaza on Wednesday that killed three American security personnel, as pressure mounted on the Palestinian Authority to apprehend the perpetrators and to move against militant groups.
The eight, members of a group called the Popular Resistance Committees, were seized in an overnight raid in the Jabalya refugee camp, which sparked a brief gunfight between armed residents and Palestinian police.
The Popular Resistance Committees, which came into existence shortly after the intifada began three years ago, is made up of former members of the Palestinian security services and breakaway activists of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah party.
In the past, the group has carried out similar roadside attacks against Israeli troops as the one that ripped apart a jeep carrying the Americans, but its members yesterday denied involvement in the attack - the first deadly assault on an American target since the start of the intifada.
Israeli security officials dismissed the arrests as inconsequential, saying they were meant to placate the US.
Five members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrived in Israel overnight and yesterday began investigating the attack.
Mr Arafat insisted yesterday he was taking action. "We sent our security groups [to investi-gate] and from yesterday we did not sleep," he said in Ramallah.
But the bombing has sparked strong international criticism of Mr Arafat and calls for the re- vamping of the Palestinian security forces. President George Bush blamed what he called the Palestinian Authority's failure to fight terror for the deaths of the three Americans, and yesterday European leaders kept up the pressure. "I realize that Arafat is very sorry, but he has to change the system," said Danish Foreign Minister Mr Per Stig Moeller. "It's not good enough."
A Palestinian security forces member was killed yesterday during exchanges of gunfire with troops in the southern Gaza refugee camp of Rafah, where the Israeli army has been operating for several days in search of arms-smuggling tunnels.
Syrian President Hafez Assad, meanwhile, yesterday accused Israel of trying to intimidate his people and of attempting to fuel a war against Islam, while his chief of staff told troops to be on alert to thwart Israeli attacks.