RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - A Palestinian man was killed and at least 15 others wounded during an Israeli tank and helicopter attack on Palestinian-ruled Ramallah early on Sunday, witnesses and hospital sources said. (Read photo caption below)
Hospital officials said Palestinian military intelligence officer Adel Jaber died after tanks entered the West Bank town from up to four different locations and fired several shells before starting to withdraw some four hours later.
The pre-dawn Israeli incursion prompted fierce gunbattles in the town, witnesses said.
They said that tank fire hit several Palestinian security checkpoints inside and on the outskirts of the town. Some tanks stopped a few yards from the Palestinian Legislative Council building.
Witnesses said Palestinian policemen returned fire as helicopter gunships swooped low over Ramallah, firing missiles toward at least one Palestinian security checkpoint, a residential building and caravans belonging to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Force 17 presidential guard.
Helicopters continued to hover as tanks began to roll back from their positions in the center of Ramallah, spraying bullets from the air, the witnesses said.
Loudspeakers in local mosques called on residents to go into the streets to resist the Israeli incursion, witnesses said.
The Israeli army declined immediate comment. An army spokeswoman said she was checking the reports.
Hopes of ending almost a year of Middle East violence weakened on Saturday after Israel called off tentatively scheduled truce talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A Palestinian man looks out of the broken windows of a building in a northern neighborhood of the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2001. Witnesses said that Israeli tanks shelled the area overnight after an exchange of gunfire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
- Sep 15 6:29 PM ET