Israelis pulls out of Jenin

JENIN, West Bank -- Israel completed its pullback from Jenin Friday, Israel Radio reported, posting forces on the outskirts of the West Bank town and allowing residents to search for relatives in a devastated refugee camp. A U.N. envoy said the incursion caused "colossal suffering."

The withdrawal winds up a three-week operation that included a bloody battle in the camp. The Israeli military commanders had said earlier the withdrawal would be completed on Friday.

Brig. Gen. Eyal Schlein, the Israeli army's Jenin division commander, said Thursday his forces had destroyed the "infrastructure -- explosive labs, organization heads, and also terrorists," But he told Israel TV, "The attacks will continue -- we haven't achieved any cease-fire."

President Bush said Thursday in Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was keeping his promise to withdraw and was on schedule. "He gave me a timetable and he met the timetable," Bush said. He dismissed assessments Secretary of State Colin Powell's Mideast mission, which ended Wednesday without a cease-fire, had failed, and said the United States would continue to pursue a truce.

Hamas leader captured

In Gaza early Friday, Israeli troops moved briefly into Palestinian-controlled territory near the border with Egypt, scene of frequent clashes and incursions. Palestinian doctors said two people were killed by Israeli gunfire. Israeli military sources said that during a routine operation, Palestinians shot at soldiers, who returned the fire.

Near Nablus, the Israeli military said it captured Husam Ataf Ali Badran, a leader of the Hamas militant organization who the army said was responsible for the deaths of more than 100 Israelis in some of the worst suicide bombings in the last year.

He reportedly had a hand in the March 27 Passover suicide bombing in Netanya that triggered the Israeli drive into Palestinian cities and towns. An army statement said his capture "is a significant blow" to Hamas. Witnesses said he was captured and three others were killed in a raid by helicopters firing rockets and machine guns outside the village of Beit Hassan.

Touring the Jenin camp Thursday, U.N. Mideast envoy Terje Larsen was harshly critical of the Israelis, though he would not take sides on the hottest disagreement -- Palestinian charges that Israeli soldiers massacred hundreds of civilians in the camp; Israel maintained most of the dead were gunmen or bombers.

He said about 300 buildings were destroyed and 2,000 people were left homeless in the Israeli operation to capture or kill armed militants.

"Not any objective can justify such action, with colossal suffering" to civilians, said Roed-Larsen, wearing a blue flak jacket and walking over a broad swathe of pulverized concrete where hundreds of people once lived.