Israeli troops kill 5 Palestinian fighters inside West Bank mosque

JERUSALEM/JENIN, West Bank, Aug 29 (Reuters) - The Israeli military said on Thursday its troops killed five Palestinian militants who were hiding inside a mosque in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, in one of its largest assaults in the Israeli-occupied territory for months.

The operation, which a Reuters witness said has yet to conclude, began in the early hours of Wednesday with hundreds of Israeli troops backed by helicopters, drones and armoured personnel carriers raiding the flashpoint cities of Tulkarm, Jenin and areas in the Jordan Valley.

There was also a complete network outage at Jawwal, one of the two main telecommunications companies in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, according to the Reuters witness.

Palestinian health authorities said at least 12 Palestinians were killed in Wednesday's operations.

In Jenin earlier, Israeli bulldozers edged along empty, rubbish-strewn streets as the sound of drones pierced the sky.

The troops searched ambulances on the streets and in front of Jenin's main hospital, having blocked off access to it on Wednesday to prevent fighters from seeking refuge there.

Israel said one of the five militants killed in the Tulkarm mosque was Muhhamad Jabber, known as "Abu Shujaa", the head of a network of fighters in the adjacent Nur Shams refugee camp.

The Tulkarm division of Islamic Jihad's armed wing said: "As part of the response to the assassination of our leader, our fighters were able to ambush an infantry force in the Manshiyya axis behind Abu Ubaida Mosque".

The militant gro...
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