PA Police seize 40 bombs in militant stronghold in Nablus - Haaretz

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Sun., November 11, 2007 Kislev 1, 5768

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		Palestinian security officers taking position during a gun battle with militants in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus earlier this month. (AP)

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Last update - 17:01 10/11/2007

PA Police seize 40 bombs in militant stronghold in Nablus

By The Associated Press

tags: Palestinian Authority

Palestinian police confiscated 40 homemade bombs in their first foray in years into the militant center of the West Bank city of Nablus, a senior official said on Saturday - a new sign of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' resolve to impose control across the lawless West Bank.

Abbas has recently reinforced the police contingent in Nablus as part of his law-and-order campaign, meant, in part, to dispel Israeli fears about his ability to rein in militants under any future peace deal.

Security forces loyal to Abbas were routed by Islamic Hamas militants who seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.

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Nablus, a city of 170,000, is a militant stronghold and one of the few West Bank cities where Hamas has strong support.

Nablus police chief Ahmed Sharkawi said officers seized the homemade bombs, most of them pipe bombs, on Thursday from houses in the Old City, a downtown market area ruled by militants. Police entered the area in coordination with gunmen who belong to a violent offshoot of Abbas' Fatah movement, but did not demand that they disarm, a faction leader said.

"The police and other security forces have seized dozens of suspicious objects and home-made explosive devices...we found more than 100 devices and suspect objects hidden in various places and we have detonated many of them," Sharkawi told reporters.

This raid marked the first time in years that police entered the crowded neighborhood. Much of the Old City has been badly damaged by Israeli raids against Palestinian militants.

Earlier in the week, Palestinian police battled militants loyal to Abbas in the nearby Balata refugee camp in their first major offensive against West Bank gunmen. For years police had not dared to enter the four refugee camps in and around Nablus, much as they had shied from the Old City.

Abbas' new efforts to disarm militants, collect illegal weapons and reform security forces represent his determination to fulfill initial Palestinian obligations under a recently revived, U.S.-backed peace plan known as the road map. The plan is to be the foundation for peace negotiations that are to be relaunched at a Mideast conference to be held in Annapolis, Maryland, at the end of November.

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1.	wow 40 bombs	18:20	\|	vik	10/11/07

2.	If such a police force seized 40 bombs, can you think how many	18:29	\|	Deuel	10/11/07

3.	If he`s really serious and if he succeeds	18:35	\|	Yonatan	10/11/07

4.	Nablus Raid	20:00	\|	Jim Brown	10/11/07

5.	it seems to me.......	20:21	\|	maria	10/11/07

6.	Good Job PA Keep Up the Good Work	20:28	\|	Jane	10/11/07

7.	If both sides take some real actions	20:36	\|	Tzfonit	10/11/07

8.	Is The Glass Half Full or Half Empty? That Seems to Be The ??	21:19	\|	B`galil	10/11/07

9.	Standard PAL purposeful exageration	22:07	\|	Man deVoshkes	10/11/07

10.	Abbas the pussy cat becoming a tiger....	23:19	\|	EGW	10/11/07

11.	The posters on this thread so fare say it all	00:32	\|	H50	11/11/07

12.	Good Start - Keep Going	00:38	\|	Mark of Lewiston	11/11/07

13.	Ridiculous responses from bigoted heads from far away,Vik et al	00:48	\|	Sam (UK)	11/11/07

14.	Sam UK #13	02:55	\|	Dakkar	11/11/07

15.	First step stop teaching hatred in Mosques, Schools, on TV etc	02:56	\|	Jabadini	11/11/07

16.	And Shin Bet gave Abbas the tip and the plan...	04:33	\|	Fortuna Benmayor	11/11/07

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