Israel destroys homes of three Palestinian activists in Jenin

JENIN, West Bank, Oct 28 (AFP) - Israeli troops destroyed the homes in Jenin and the city's refugee camps of four Palestinians implicated in anti-Israeli attacks, a Palestinian security source and Israeli radio said.

The soldiers dynamited and bulldozed the house of Alis Afouri, a local leader of the Al-Qods Brigades, the armed branch of the radical Islamic Jihad movement, and the home of Abdel Karim Awes, an official of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Yasser Arafat's mainline Fatah movement.

The third house to be razed was that of Mohammed Hassanein, a member of the Al-Qods Brigades and one of the two suicide attackers who used a car bomb to destroy an Israeli bus on October 21 killing 14 Israelis.

Israeli public radio said that the house of Hassanein's companion, Ashraf al-Asmar, 17, was also torn down by the army.

The Israeli army considers the destruction of activists' homes a means of "dissuasion and fighting against Palestinian terrorism."

More than 50 houses have been razed since the start of August. Human rights organizations have hit out at the policy as "collective punishment."