Israeli soldier killed in ambush

The strained ceasefire between the Israelis and Palestinians is under renewed pressure after an Israeli soldier was killed in a revenge attack on the West Bank.

Palestinian gunmen ambushed 19- year- old Sergeant Elad Abu-Gani near Nablus last night hours after Raed Karmi, the 27-year-old leader of a local Palestinian militia, was killed by a bomb near his house in the town of Tulkarem.

Mr Karmi's group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a splinter group linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack in which another soldier was also wounded.

The episode was reminiscent of the tit-for-tat violence that has marked the 16-month long Palestinian uprising but had abated in recent weeks.

Comrades of Mr Karmi called his killing an Israeli assassination and said it had "cancelled" Mr Arafat's ceasefire. Unlike members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, they say they have no interest in suicide attacks, and insist their goal is only to drive Israelis out of the West Bank. They said they had obeyed the ceasefire ordered by Mr Arafat, and Tulkarem has indeed been quiet in recent weeks.

Israeli forces said they had tried to kill Mr Karmi last September in retaliation for attacks on Israeli citizens and to pre-empt future attacks. Mr Karmi was wanted for killing two restaurateurs from Tel Aviv when they were in Tulkarem last January.

Palestinian radio reported last night that a Fatah spokesman had released a statement rejecting Israeli reports that the organisation had annulled the ceasefire declared by Mr Arafat in December.