One killed as Palestinian security forces clash with militants in Jenin

Attempt to set off car bomb in the occupied West Bank city was thwarted earlier on Saturday, security official says

Palestinian security forces take position during clashes with militants at the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Saturday. Reuters

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At least one person was killed in clashes between Palestinian security forces and militants in the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, residents and medics said.

Gunshots and explosions could be heard in the city, where security forces set up checkpoints. Friction has risen in Jenin in recent days between militant factions and the western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA) of President Mahmoud Abbas, following raids by the PA.

Residents identified the dead man as a militant, although none of the factions immediately confirmed his affiliation. The PA's security branch said in a statement that its forces were undertaking a security operation to restore law and order to Jenin's refugee camp, a stronghold of militants alienated from the Palestinian leadership.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian security authorities said they had thwarted an attempt to set off a car bomb in Jenin. The vehicle was prepared by “outlaws” to be detonated around citizens and security personnel “as part of a cowardly criminal act”, Gen Anwar Rajab, spokesman for the PA's security forces, said in a statement carried by Wafa news agency.

“This is not the first attempt by those outlaws to adopt this ISIS approach, as they previously detonated a car bomb several days ago in the centre of Jenin, which led to the injury of a number of citizens and members of the security services,” he added.

On December 5, gunfights in Jenin between militants and Palestinian security forces followed the theft of vehicles belonging to the PA. Armed men seized the vehicles and drove through the Jenin refugee camp waving flags of the Islamic Jihad group, which is allied with Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Gen Rajab said at the time that “a group of outlaws opened fire on the headquarters of the security services” and stole two vehicles. He said the security forces would “recover the vehicles and hold accountable anyone who committed this act”.

The Palestinian Authority has partial administrative control in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967. Jenin and its adjacent refugee camp are a stronghold for armed factions who present themselves as a more effective resistance to the Israeli occupation, in contrast to the Palestinian Authority, which co-ordinates security with Israel.

Tensions have been running high in the West Bank after the Palestinian Authority arrested several militants this month. The clashes between local militants and Palestinian forces have added to the soaring violence in the West Bank, with Israeli military raids and settler attacks increasing since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October last year.