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Palestinian sources: Israel frees security official
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel has released a senior Palestinian security official from jail, Palestinian security sources said Thursday. Col. Suleiman Abu Mutlaq was released from Ashkelon Jail. He is in Gaza en route to meet Palestinian Authority security chief Muhammad Dahlan, the sources said. Arrested in May, Mutlaq was accused of being involved in attacks against Israelis and providing help to militants. Israeli military sources said officials released 33 Palestinian detainees. Most were detained last week in an operation to arrest suspected militants in the West Bank town of Hebron. Meanwhile, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant arm of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said it will not abandon the ongoing cease-fire declared by Palestinian militant groups. But in a leaflet, Al Aqsa said it will retaliate on a one-to-one basis for any killing or arrest of group members. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah announced Sunday they would stop attacks on Israelis temporarily. Israeli forces this week pulled out of northern Gaza and the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Israel has indicated it will hand over control of more Palestinian territory if the cease-fire holds. Also on Thursday, a local head of Al Aqsa in the West Bank was killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli forces, Palestinian medical sources said. Mahmoud Ahmad Shawar, 31, was the head of the militant group in Qalqilya, the sources said. He was shot in the head, they said. Another Palestinian man was wounded in the exchange of fire, and Israeli forces arrested him, the Palestinian medical sources said. According to an Israeli military source, Israeli forces were attempting to arrest wanted men in Qalqilya, and soldiers opened fire when the suspects tried to escape. Israel protests attacksIsrael on Thursday responded to a pair of recent attacks on Jewish settlements in Gaza by blocking off a portion of a north-south highway there temporarily and lodging a formal complaint with Palestinian authorities for truce violations, Israeli military sources said. In its pullout from northern Gaza, the Israeli army dismantled checkpoints along the highway as part of a truce with Palestinian militant groups. Four Jewish settlers in Kfar Darom were slightly injured Wednesday, according to the Israeli sources, when three anti-tank missiles were fired into the settlement in southern Gaza. Israeli soldiers fired back, but there were no reports of Palestinian casualties. Two mortars also were fired at the Gadid settlement. Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas condemned the violence, and Dahlan said the Palestinian Authority is looking for those responsible, according to Israel Radio. Abbas said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority will pursue anyone who violates the cease-fire agreement. Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying Thursday that the pursuit already had begun. The sources said two men were arrested Wednesday in Khan Yunis in Gaza on suspicion of firing mortar shells at a Jewish settlement. CNN Correspondent Matthew Chance in Gaza contributed to this report.
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