Israeli troops raid West Bank bank

NABLUS, West Bank, Sep 20: Israeli troops raided a Jordanian-owned bank in the West Bank town of Nablus and several money-changing agencies in the occupied territory, local residents said today.

An Israeli military source said soldiers raided ''the financial infrastructure of terror organisations'' during the night but declined to give further details.

The manager of al-Ahli Bank said troops blew open the front door and entered the premises. They were unable to open the safe and did not take anything of substance, although they caused damage to the bank's interior, he said.

''There is no justification for this action as we are operating as part of the accords between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority and we are supervised by the Palestinian monetary authorities,'' manager Abdel Latif Nasif said.

He said the bank would open for business as usual today.

Local residents said troops confiscated large amounts of cash and computers belonging to money changers in Nablus, Tulkarm and Ramallah.

Israel says it suspects that money changers and banks are helping to finance Palestinian militants.

Earlier, in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a house in the militant stronghold of Rafah but caused no casualties, the Israeli military and Palestinian witnesses said.

Local residents said the house, which was destroyed, belonged to a militant and that it had been vacated before the strike.

An Israeli was wounded by one of two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip by Palestinian militants, an army spokesman said.

Israel has carried out frequent air strikes in the Gaza Strip during an offensive launched in late June after gunmen from Gaza abducted a soldier in a cross-border raid.

More than 210 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, have been killed during the operations which Israel says are also aimed at stopping militants from firing their makeshift rockets across the frontier.

Reuters