By IPS Correspondents
GAZA, Mar 27 2003 (IPS)

A third Palestinian security man fell martyr in Beit Lahya, northern Gaza Strip, when an Israeli Apache helicopter shelled a Palestinian security centre earlier today, Radio Israel said.

The radio monitored here this morning said three Palestinian activists were arrested during an Israeli incursion operation of Beit Lahya by tanks and armored vehicles backed by Apache helicopter gunships. The Israeli forces were intercepted by gunfire and explosives, the radio added.

Meanwhile the Israeli occupation forces have besieged the Special Force 17, in charge of guarding and protecting Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Two Palestinian security men fell martyrs and 15 others were injured during an incursion operation the Israeli occupation forces carried out in Beit Hanoon, northern Gaza Strip. The two security men are Iyad Khalil Fayyad, aged 30 and Ihab Jars, aged 21.

In the meantime, Radio Israel said the Israeli forces defused eight explosive devices in Jenin, north of the West Bank. The Israeli forces shut down offices of the Islamic Dawaa in Hebron under pretext of extending assistances to relatives of the Palestinian martyrs and detainees still behind Israeli bars.

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