The Israeli army said it detained six Palestinians in the West Bank today in its hunt for wanted militants while Palestinian sources said a security official had also been picked up.
Palestinian intelligence officer Ismail Aref, 30, a member of Yasser Arafat's Fatah party, was arrested this morning by Israeli troops at his home in the village of Deir Ammar west of Ramallah, security sources said.
Aref is wanted for plotting attacks on Israelis and has escaped arrest four times before, they added.
About six weeks ago he managed to flee soldiers in the village of Beitunia, north of Ramallah, while a friend of his and a fellow Palestinian intelligence officer were killed during an army raid, the sources said.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the arrest.
Meanwhile, in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli soldiers detained two men, including a wanted member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
The army said it had also arrested two Palestinians in a car just south of Nablus near the Jewish settlement of Ariel.
The two men were arrested at Tapuah junction and a suicide bomber's belt was found in the car and defused, a spokeswoman said.
Troops also arrested a member of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in Hebron, the army said.
The army imposed a curfew on the flashpoint West Bank city Friday as thousands of Jews arrived for religious services at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the burial site of the prophet Abraham.
Another wanted Palestinian was arrested by Israeli border police in the Abu Dis neighbourhood of occupied east Jerusalem, the army said, without saying specifically what he was accused of.
AFP