Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat said Tuesday that Palestinian security forces had arrested gunmen, who killed a Bulgarian road worker in a West Bank shooting on Monday that violated the truce declared Sunday.
"Those who did it were arrested," Arafat told reporters. He did not say how many members of a cell of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which claimed responsibility for the attack, were detained. The worker, Krastiu Radkov, 46, was shot dead by gunmen near Jenin who opened fire on an Israeli truck carrying laborers who had been laying a road. Radkov was hit in the head and died a short time
later after attempts to resuscitate him failed.
Meanwhile, Israel's Shin Bet secret service chief, Avi Dichter, said Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority must start disarming "terror" organizations in the Gaza Strip within two or three weeks, or Israel will freeze further handovers of security authority in the West Bank.
According to Israel Radio, Dichter termed a "critical step" progress toward disarming Hamas and other armed groups, adding that Israel would refrain from additional West Bank transfers of security responsibility beyond the West Bank city of Bethlehem, unless such progress were seen. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
