MIDDLE EAST: Israeli troops killed five Palestinians in raids into the West Bank and Gaza Strip yesterday, drawing threats of revenge from extremist groups. An Israeli soldier was also killed.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has suspended 27 pilots who are refusing to participate in air strikes in Palestinian areas and says it may prosecute them.
Three of the Palestinian fatalities came during long hours of gunfire in Gaza's Bureij refugee camp early yesterday. Troops who surrounded the home of a local Islamic Jihad leader immediately came under fire and a soldier was killed. When the troops withdrew several hours leader, the dead bodies of a Hamas and an Islamic Jihad member were found. A three-year-old girl, Dina Issa, was also among the dead.
In Hebron in the West Bank, Diab Shawiki, an Islamic Jihad commander whom Israel has tried to assassinate in the past, was shot dead by troops along with another Islamic Jihad member during a gun-battle at the building where he was hiding out.
Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, said such raids and the "targeted" air strikes against Hamas leaders and other intifada kingpins, would continue.