An Israeli soldier stands guard in front of two abducted Palestinians

NABLUS, West Bank, February 10 (News Agencies) – Israeli occupation troops killed a member of the Ali Abu Mustapha brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in a pre-dawn raid near the West Bank town of Nablus, a PFLP source said Monday, February 10.

Imad Mabruk, 25, was shot at his home in the Ain Beit Ilma refugee camp west of Nablus during a military incursion, the source said, said Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Israeli radio said Mabruk had been wanted by the Israeli army and was killed trying to flee on the roof of his home. It said he was unarmed. The army declined to comment on the report, AFP reported.

The radio also reported that another Palestinian was abducted overnight in the West Bank city of Ramallah, allegedly in possession of a suitcase with several kilograms (pounds) of explosives.

Meanwhile, Israeli police in occupied Jerusalem were on heightened alert Monday amid fears of a new attack by Palestinian resistance fighters, police officials said.

Security controls have been strengthened on roads entering the city and barriers set up.

"We were alerted of an increased risk of an attack and we've taken measures as a precaution, but we don't have any specific information on a terrorist attack," said occupied Jerusalem police chief Shmuel Ben Ruby.

The last attack by Palestinian fighters came on January 5, when 23 people were killed by two bombers in Tel Aviv.

Since then, the security services say they have foiled several attempted bombings in Israel.

On Sunday, Three Palestinians from the resistance movement the Islamic Jihad launched an attack in the Gaza Strip which left them all dead.

The men sped up to an army post guarding the Jewish colonial settlement bloc of Gush Katif in the southern Gaza Strip and one of the men jumped out and started firing. Then the explosives-laden car rammed into a concrete barrier and exploded.

All three Palestinians were killed and four Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded.

‘No Interest in Peace’

In another development, hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, attempting to forge a new administration after his Likud party's general election win last month, said Sunday that one of the main tasks of his new government would be removing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, as new high-level contacts with the Palestinian authorities were confirmed.

"The new government will face difficult tasks: the war against terrorism and against its leader, the head of the Palestinian Authority," said Sharon after President Moshe Katsav officially asked him to form a new coalition following his election triumph.

"The new government will have to finish off the battle against terrorism, remove its leadership and create conditions for the emergence of a new leadership with which it will be able to reach a real peace," he said.

Sharon's Likud party controls 40 out of 120 parliamentary seats following the January 28 polls he won on a promise to continue his hardline policy against the 28-month Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

However, his bureau head Dov Weisglass revealed this weekend Sharon had renewed contacts with senior Palestinian officials on new security arrangements.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat condemned the newly re-elected premier's remarks, which he said showed Sharon had no interest in peace.

"This means ... Sharon rejects the peace process and has chosen the path of continuing his aggression against the Palestinians," he told AFP.

The daily Yediot Aharonot said Sunday that Sharon and U.S. President George W. Bush had agreed on a plan to get rid of Arafat after the United States had removed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"It was agreed that Israel could banish Yasser Arafat and his associates from the (occupied) territories if he refuses to appoint a prime minister endowed with the power to run the self-rule authority" set up in 1994, the daily said.