(IsraelNN.com) IDF soldiers killed senior Islamic Jihad terrorist Saleh Karkoor after he opened fire on soldiers trying to arrest him Wednesday near Jenin.

The 26-year-old local terror chief was targeted for arrest in a joint IDF, Border Police and Shabak (General Security Service) operation, early Wednesday morning, in the village of Seida, southwest of Jenin.

The Israel forces were targeted by gunfire and several bombs were detonated in the vicinity as well. After returning fire and killing Karkoor, troops found a Kalashnikov assault rifle and several explosive devices on his person.

Released Twice, Planning Attack
Karkoor has been released from Israeli prisons twice. He was in the midst of planning suicide bombings to be implemented in the near future, according to intelligence information.

He was arrested for the first time 10 years ago and released shortly thereafter, only to be arrested again in 2002 for involvement in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.  That attack wounded 23 people. Karkoor prepared those two suicide bombers, who slept over at his house. He also recruited others for more such attacks. The government released him again in November, 2006 as part of good will measures towards the Palestinian Authority (PA).

He then “immediately” returned to terrorist activity, according to intelligence information released by the IDF, taking part in the establishment of an Islamic Jihad cell in the Jenin area together with Khaled Hassin, who was killed by IDF Special Forces on October 23, 2007, along with a number of Islamic Jihad terrorists from Tul Karem in clashes with the IDF in Jenin.
 
Karkoor’s cell carried out the suicide bombing at an IDF roadblock near the Samaria community of Einav on July 12, 2007.

Missile Attack on Ashkelon Disturbs “Calm”
Palestinian Authority terrorists in Gaza ended a four-day lull Tuesday with a missile attack on Ashkelon.

The Grad-type Katyusha missile exploded in an area south of the coastal city just hours after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned residents while touring Ashkelon that it will never be possible to completely stop rocket attacks on the city.

No one was injured and no damage was reported in the attack.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization claimed responsibility for the attack, though all attacks emanating from Gaza are approved and coordinated by Hamas.

Mortar Attack on Western Negev
A mortar shell was launched toward western Negev Jewish towns Wednesday morning. The shell exploded in an open field just past the Gaza fence. No one was injured and no damage was reported.

Rocks and Firebombs
PA Arabs attacked an Israeli motorist traveling through Samaria Tuesday.  The attackers hurled rocks at the car as it drove along a road southeast of Ramallah. No injuries were reported in the attack, but the vehicle was damaged.

Arabs hurled rocks at Jewish motorists traveling on the road north of Hevron Tuesday evening. Three cars were targeted by the attackers. No one was injured, though two of the vehicles were damaged.

Two Molotov cocktail firebombs were hurled at Border Police Tuesday afternoon in the village of Azoun, in Samaria. The Kalkilya-area village is known for terrorizing Jewish motorists driving in the region with rock and firebomb attacks on a regular basis. No damage or injuries were reported.

IDF Arrests Twelve Wanted Terrorists
IDF soldiers arrested 12 wanted terrorists Tuesday night.  The detainees were taken to security services for questioning.

Soldiers found a Kalashnikov rifle and three ammunition clips while arresting a suspect in Hevron.  The weapons were confiscated.

Soldiers Wound Truck Thief North of Arad
IDF soldiers shot and lightly wounded the driver of a stolen truck at checkpoint next to Beit Yatir, in the southern Hevron Hills just north of Arad Wednesday morning. The car thief is being treated at Soroka hospital in Be'er Sheva.

The soldiers, reservists, received intelligence information that a Hyundai vehicle and a stolen struck were to arrive at the checkpoint from the direction of Arad-Be'er Sheva. When the soldiers told the truck driver to pull over to the side for inspection, he fled towards the adjacent village known by its colloquial name as "the thieves' village." The soldier called out in Arabic for him to stop and shot at his legs when he refused.

US General Training Fatah Attacks Defense Minister
United States General Keith Dayton blames Defense Minister Ehud Barak for the Palestinian Authority’s inability to gain control of terrorist groups in PA-controlled areas, according to the PA’s Ma’an News Agency.  Dayton reportedly criticized Barak and the IDF in meetings with foreign consuls in Ramallah.

According to the report, Dayton praised the PA as “acting with great seriousness in the realm of security as part of its responsibility to secure its territories.”  However, he said, Israel causes the PA to fail, in part by refusing to grant PA officers free access to areas under Israeli control.

Man Held in ‘Honor’ Shooting
A 24-year-old Israeli-Arab Muslim from the Galilee was arrested Tuesday for shooting his 20-year-old sister in the head, causing her serious wounds.  The man turned himself in to police and explained that he had shot his sister in an “honor killing” because she associated with men.  The man argued that his family knew of his plans to kill the sister.

While the man turned himself in, believing he had killed his sister, the young woman managed to survive the shooting and was taken to HaEmek hospital in serious condition.  Doctors announced Wednesday that the woman’s condition was improving.

Police are investigating the incident, and plan to examine the brother’s claims that his family knew he planned to murder his sister.

Israel-India Work Group on Terror
The joint Israel-India work group in the war on terror ended its two-day meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday, the seventh in a series of talks on global and regional terror threats.

Also on the agenda were the threats posed by drug trafficking, computerized terror and cooperation in international forums.

Hamas Threatens Israel on Jerusalem Excavation
The Hamas Islamist terrorist organization threatened Israel Tuesday that the entire region would fly "into a rage" over resumption of construction near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

"We warn against harming the al-Aksa mosque," said Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nounou, who added that excavations would "provoke the feelings of all Muslims in the world."

Israel temporarily suspended the dig last year amid Arab riots worldwide. Muslims claimed that construction to replace a broken footbridge to the entrance of the Temple Mount from the Rambam (Mughrabi) Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem would harm the mosque. International experts came, inspected the site, and determined that no damage was caused to the structure.

Iran Places Bounties on Top Israeli Defense Officials
Iran has placed a bounty on the heads of Israel's security establishment via its state-supported Islamist student union.

Students offered rewards totaling one million dollars for the execution of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Mossad  Director Meir Dagan and IDF Military Intelligence Chief Amos Yadlin, the state-run Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported Monday.

The group has requested that Iranians wishing to increase the bounties donate their kidneys. The bounty for Barak is currently 400,000 dollars, while the murders of Dagan or Yadlin would earn the would-be killers 300,000 each. "These sums will be given to any person, or their families, who could punish these individuals in any part of the world," the Islamist group announced.

Banners announcing the bounties feature the quote by Islamic Revolution Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini that "Israel must be wiped off the map." The line has become a rallying cry for Iran's President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad in his bid for nuclear capabilities.