Israeli troops have struck another blow at Palestinian Authority infrastructure by blowing up the Palestinian police headquarters in Hebron where, the Israelis say, up to 15 suspected militants had taken refuge.
The British-built fortress-like structure in the West Bank city of Hebron was destroyed after a four-day siege during which the Israelis fired rockets from helicopter gunships and detonated two tonnes of explosives, devastating the area.
"This destruction, without taking into consideration that there might be injured people inside that compound...shows the brutality of the (Israeli) occupation," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said: "If there are any bodies there, they'll be found. But it will take a while because there was a huge amount of destruction."
The assault devastated the immediate area, destroying cars and damaging buildings. A Japanese-funded school for Palestinian children adjacent to the compound suffered heavy damage, its classrooms littered with glass, broken desks and fallen ceiling tiles.
Israeli Army Radio said earlier that Israeli officers believed the occupants of the headquarters were dead after military engineers detonated two tonnes of explosives. But Israel Radio said it was possible they escaped through tunnels.
Hebron is one of seven West Bank cities reoccupied by the Israeli army in retaliation for suicide bombings which killed 26 Israelis last week. Some 700,000 Palestinians are being held under curfew.
It is understood that a number of Palestinians took refuge in the compound on Tuesday after Israeli forces advanced into the city and, according to Israeli officials up to 20 Palestinians surrendered since the siege began, but 15 wanted men remained inside the building. Talal Seder, a former Palestinian cabinet minister who had gone into the headquarters on Friday to urge the gunmen thought to be there to surrender, said after the demolition he could not be sure anyone had been inside.
"The last time I went inside no one gave me a response. Maybe Israelis killed the Palestinians within the first few days of the standoff," Seder said.
Abed Rabbo said Israel's decision to blow up the headquarters showed that its "main aim is to impose...Israeli rule upon the Palestinian people and to destroy all the symbols of the Palestinian Authority and its infrastructure".
Israeli troops are now also stationed in six other West Bank cities -- Ramallah, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jenin, Qalqilya and Tulkarm -- as they search for suspects and carry out operations they say are aimed at destroying the "infrastructure of terror".
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian witnesses said Israeli army gunfire killed a Palestinan woman and wounded her husband in a village near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom.
At least 1,428 Palestinians and 548 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.