Jerusalem, Nov 15: After three days of searches, Israeli troops tracked down the suspected ringleader of a deadly Palestinian shooting spree at an Israeli Kibbutz, forcing him to strip to his underwear and surrender in the West Bank town of Tulkarem.
In a separate army action in Gaza, Israeli forces carried out a pre-dawn raid in Gaza city -- a congested place that ground troops have rarely approached -- and detained four Palestinian brothers suspected of making mortars. The actions are part of a recent pattern that's seen the military send large numbers of tanks, armored personnel carriers and troops into Palestinian cities and towns on nighttime missions aimed at seizing individual militants.
In Tulkarem, where soldiers having been going in and out since early Tuesday, soldiers surrounded the house yesterday where the suspect, Mohammed Naefe, was hiding out. Under orders from them, he eventually walked out with his hands up, stripped to his underwear to ensure he wasn't carrying explosives.

An Israeli human rights group helped arrange the surrender of Naefe and two alleged accomplices.



The army then demolished the hideout as part of its policy of destroying the homes of militants in an attempt to deter Palestinians from carrying out attacks on Israelis.



Israel says Naefe planned the attack that was carried out just before midnight Sunday on Kibbutz Metzer, a communal farm inside Israel proper, in which five people were killed, including a mother and her two young sons huddled in a bedroom. The gunman managed to escape.



Bureau Report