IDF Troops Arrest Two Suicide Bombers in Nablus

IDF troops operating overnight Wednesday in villages near the West Bank city of Nablus arrested 10 suspected terrorists, including two Palestinians who planned to carry out suicide bombings, Israel Radio reported Thursday.

It said one of the potential bombers was arrested during a sweep in Asira a-Simliya village north of Nablus, where troops seized him and seven other members of the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. One of those was suspected of commanding a suicide operation, and the other six were suspects in shooting attacks against Israelis in the northern West Bank.

In a parallel IDF operation in the Nablus-area village of Klosa, two more suspects were taken into custody, one of them planning to carry out a suicide bombing, the radio said.

New IDF chief said opposed to expelling ArafatIn an apparent policy departure, new IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon was quoted as saying he is opposed to the expulsion of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Ya'alon, quoted by unnamed senior IDF officers in an Army Radio report, is said to believe that ousting Arafat from the territories would only revive the Palestinian leader's battered international standing.

Ya'alon's predecessor, Shaul Mofaz, was a strong proponent of deporting Arafat.