A military leader of the Islamic Hamas group escaped from his West Bank prison on Friday after Israeli missile strikes destroyed the compound where he was held, a senior Palestinian security source said.
The source told Reuters that Mahmoud Abu Hannoud, sentenced to 12 years in jail by a Palestinian security court, escaped from his Nablus prison cell in the chaos that followed the strike.
Abu Hannoud escaped arrest by Israeli forces in 2000 in the Assira Shamaleyya near Nablus after a shootout.
The security source said police were searching for him.
Al Jazeera TV reported Friday that Abu Hannoud was lightly injured when the Israeli raid attacked the prison.
Other political detainees were injured in the attack on the jail, while others detained in the police headquarters in both cities received treatment for injuries they sustained during the toughest raid ever on Palestinian sites.
The head of the Nablus police, who is famous for his nom de guerre, 'Brigadier Castro,' was also wounded.
But most of the injured were civilians, said the director at Nablus Rafidia Hospital, who informed the station that the majority of those treated at his hospital had arrived wearing pyjamas - Albawaba.com
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