NABLUS, West Bank, Dec 26 (AFP) - Dozens of Israeli jeeps rolled into the Balata refugee camp Friday, at the entrance of this northern West Bank city, clamping a curfew on its inhabitants, Palestinian security sources said.
Troops carried out house-to-house searches and were looking for wanted men, they added.
An army spokesman confirmed the raid saying it was part of a larger operation that was launched on December 16 in Balata.
He said 18 anti-Israeli attacks being planned in this hotbed of militancy had been thwarted since an October 4 suicide bombing in Haifa, in northern Israel.
Dozens of Palestinians were arrested and four killed in Balata, three of them by Israeli fire, over the past ten days.
But Palestinian security sources said none of those nabbed by the army had been on its wanted list.
bur-sc/al
AFP 261500 GMT 12 03
Copyright (c) 2003 Agence France-Presse
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 12/26/2003 10:03:21