Attacks in Mideast; 8 Feared dead

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Palestinians fired on an Israeli bus in the West Bank and suicide bombers set off their explosives in the Gaza Strip in double attacks near Jewish settlements that killed at least eight people and wounded about 30, paramedics and the Israeli army said Wednesday. The eight were killed in the bus attack, which took place when explosions forced the vehicle to stop as it wound up an uphill road to the settlement of Emmanuel, about 25 miles north of Jerusalem, Capt. Jacob Dallal, an Israeli army spokesman. Gunmen then opened fire from surrounding hills, both on the bus and on rescue crews that rushed to the scene in the darkness. Around 25 to 30 people were wounded. Dallal said the initial explosion was caused by either a suicide attackers or a roadside bomb. Violence had continued throughout the day, despite a U.S. peace envoy's call for 48 hours of calm. Israeli helicopter gunships attacked a Palestinian refugee camp Wednesday morning in response to mortar fire on nearby Jewish settlements. Four Palestinian militiamen were killed and 20 bystanders wounded in the airstrike. The violence raised questions about the effectiveness of the U.S. mediation mission. Only a day earlier, the U.S. envoy, Anthony Zinni, had asked Israelis and Palestinians to observe two days of calm to help lower tensions and rebuild trust, said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. In truce talks Tuesday, Zinni requested that Israel refrain from targeted killings of suspected militants and from shelling Palestinian Authority targets, said a Palestinian security official. The Palestinians were asked to stop mortar fire and round up more suspected Islamic militants, the security official said. Yarden Vatikay, an adviser to Israel's defense minister, denied that Zinni made specific demands of Israel. His request of Israel was to act in a responsible fashion, but there was no demand to stop actions which are meant for self defense,'' Vatikay said. At virtually the same time as the bus attack Wednesday evening, two suicide bombers blew themselves up near the Gush Katif settlement bloc in the Gaza Strip, wounding several people, the army and TV reports said. The assailants jumped on a car leaving the Ganei Tal settlement and detonated the explosives, TV reports said. The passengers in the car escaped with minor injuries but the assailants were killed, the reports said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either attack. Earlier Wednesday, five Israeli tanks drove into the center of the West Bank town of Jenin, triggering a firefight with hundreds of Palestinian activists. Fourteen Jenin residents were wounded by Israeli fire before the tanks left, doctors said. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said in a statement that Israel was acting responsibly. He said Israeli troops would continue to respond to Palestinian mortar fire and to strike against militants suspected of planning attacks on Israelis. Last week, three Palestinian suicide bombers killed 26 people in Israel, the latest in a series of attacks by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups. Tuesday's truce talks were stormy, as were two previous rounds in recent days, and Mohammed Dahlan, the Palestinian security chief in the Gaza Strip, left abruptly after a loud argument with the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, Avi Dichter, said Palestinian officials close to the talks. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, meanwhile, described the Palestinians' crackdown on suspected militants as a very serious battle we have never experienced before.'' Israel has dismissed the arrests as insufficient, saying many of those taken into custody were minor activists, not planners of terror attacks. The Palestinians say more than 180 suspects have been detained, including 17 on a list of 33 names of wanted militants submitted by the United States. Late Tuesday, Palestinians fired four mortar shells at Jewish settlements in the southern Gaza Strip. The mortar shells caused no damage or injuries. In retaliation, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza overnight, killing four Palestinians and wounding 20, including four who were in serious condition, Palestinian doctors said. The first air strike targeted a hiding place of members of a local militia, the so-called Abu Rish group, which has tentative links to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, camp residents said. Two of the militiamen were killed immediately and two more in another Israeli strike an hour later, witnesses said. Israel's military said those targeted in the air strike had been involved in firing mortars at Israeli settlements. It said members of the Islamic militant group Hamas were also involved in the shelling. The Palestinian police chief in the Gaza Strip, Brig. Gen. Abdel Razek Majaida, accused Israel of attacking civilian areas.