The Israeli army arrested 12 Palestinians across the West Bank today as part of its campaign to track down militants suspected of planning suicide attacks.
The arrests of alleged members of the Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad and an armed group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction followed a day of violence yesterday in which four Palestinians were killed.
The army said the suspects were rounded up in the Bethlehem, Hebron and Nablus areas, which are among the major Palestinian-ruled cities and towns reoccupied by Israeli forces following a wave of suicide bombings against Israelis.
Violence has surged in recent days despite calls by the United States for calm in the region as it seeks Arab support for a possible war on Iraq.
Yesterday, Israeli troops shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian and wounded 16 people in a crowded market in the West Bank city of Jenin. The army said troops enforcing a curfew shot back when gunmen opened fire.
Troops also shot dead a 21-year-old Palestinian in a raid in nearby Tulkarm, witnesses said, and the army said it killed a gunman posing as a soldier who attacked an army post at a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
Another Palestinian was killed when a Palestinian mortar bomb exploded in an industrial zone near the Erez checkpoint between Gaza and Israel. Witnesses said the bomb apparently fell short of its Israeli target.