Israeli soldiers shot dead the brother of a jailed Palestinian militant leader in the West Bank city of Ramallah today, Palestinian witnesses and Israeli security sources said.
Mohammed Saadat's bloodied body lay in a courtyard as weeping neighbours surveyed the scene and a Palestinian ambulance came to take away the corpse. It was not immediately known if he had political affiliations.
His brother, Ahmed Saadat, is the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which assassinated an Israeli cabinet minister last year.
Ahmed Saadat was jailed under international supervision in the Palestinian-ruled West Bank city of Jericho in May.
Israeli security sources said two soldiers were wounded in Tuesday's shooting. Israel Radio said Saadat was armed with a pistol and fired at soldiers who came to detain him. They shot back and killed him, the report said.