Gaza City, Oct 16: Palestinian security services today arrested eight suspected militants in a refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip in the wake of a deadly bomb attack on a US diplomatic convoy, security sources said. At least three of those arrested in the Jabiliya refugee camp, which lies about two kilometers from the scene of the blast yesterday, were members of the Popular Resistance Committees, the sources said.
The fringe group initially claimed responsibility for the blast in an anonymous phone call to a press agency but later issued a statement denying involvement. According to some witnesses, there was an exchange of fire between security services and residents in the camp as the arrests took place.
US President George W. Bush yesterday said that the bomb attack, which left three American security personnel dead, was evidence of a failure by Palestinian authorities to crack down on militants. "Palestinian authorities should have acted long ago to fight terror in all its forms," said Bush. Bureau Report