The army said Palestinian gunmen shot at soldiers, and an Apache helicopter fired back, killing at least one Palestinian. Three others died in exchanges of fire, and seven were wounded in the clashes, doctors and witnesses said.The army said the raid was meant to uncover weapons-smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian-Gaza border, and that four houses were demolished. No tunnels were discovered but four soldiers were wounded when a bomb went off under a tank.In the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli troops shot and killed a man the army claimed was a leader of the militant Hamas group during an early morning raid.Khaled Rayyan, aged 28, was hiding in a relative’s house with his wife and child when soldiers broke down the door, said his wife, Salam Rayyan. He was killed when he tried to attack the troops with a pistol, she said.In the West Bank town of Qalqiliya, Israeli troops searching for Palestinian militants late last night shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian when he opened his door to look at troops outside, witnesses said.

The army said the youth tried to run away from troops, and was shot after he ignored calls to stop.In the nearby town of Tulkarem, Israeli forces demolished the home of a Palestinian suicide bomber who blew himself up in the coastal city of Netanya almost two years ago. Israel routinely demolishes the homes of families of suicide bombers calling it a deterrent to other would-be suicide bombers. Palestinians say it is collective punishment.The tandem military operations came as Mahmoud Abbas, the recently named Palestinian prime minister, met political leaders in the Gaza Strip to discuss the formation of his new Cabinet, expected later this month.Mr Abbas, who is widely known as Abu Mazen, also met recently leaders of Islamic militant groups in Gaza, in an effort to persuade them to end, at least for a period, attacks against Israelis.. A large bomb exploded in the city of Davao last night, killing at least 15 people and injuring 34 in the second attack within a month. Among the dead were at least two children and a nun, officials said.President Arroyo condemned the attack, and said she had ordered security forces to crack down and arrest “these lawless elements and terrorists”, adding: “This is a grim reminder that we must always be alert and watchful of those who wish to do us harm.”We must not be intimidated The police and the military alone cannot do the job. This is a total war requiring the full attention and resources of the entire community.”Earlier, Lt-Gen Narciso Abaya, military chief in the southern Philippines, said he had ordered troops to stay on the highest alert.Arrest warrants were issued after the airport bombing for leaders of the Muslim separatist group Moro Islamic Liberation Front Its spokesman, Eid Kabalu, condemned yesterday’s attack He said: “This is a crime against humanity This heinous act has no place in the MILF.

We want this investigated and again, [as] in the first attack, we would be offering our assistance.” (AP). Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, began mending fences yesterday between the US and Turkey. But he failed to secure a cast-iron assurance that Turkey will not move military forces into northern Iraq to throttle any separatist movement by local Kurds.
Instead, Washington and Ankara have agreed on an “early warning” system designed to head off friction involving the Iraqi Kurds, who Turkey fears could use the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime to make a bid for independence and stir fresh unrest in heavily Kurdish south-eastern Turkey.After talks in Ankara with the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, General Powell said US special forces, and the 1,000-plus troops parachuted into northern Iraq last week, now had the situation under control. “There is no need for the movement of troops across the border,” he said.Under the early warning system, senior Turkish and US officials would make contact as soon as tensions arose. Ankara wants to avoid a repeat of what happened after the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam Hussein suppressed a Kurdish uprising, sending huge numbers of refugees into Turkey.This time there has been little sign of anything similar, as Iraqi forces have retreated from their most forward positions in northern Iraq. The Iraqi Kurds meanwhile have promised not to try to seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which the Turkish government has said would be unacceptable.General Powell’s visit is a start towards repairing relations with a vital ally. Ankara’s refusal to allow America to use its bases to launch a northern front against Baghdad cast the worst chill over relations since the US imposed an arms embargo after Turkey’s 1974 invasion of northern Cyprus.The Secretary of State did win agreement from Turkey to speed humanitarian aid into Iraq and the delivery of fuel to coalition forces..

The Prime Minister of France, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, is expected to make a statement today denouncing anti-Americanism and making it clear that France is “on the side of democracy” in the Iraq war. Raffarin has been alarmed by signs of growing anti-American and anti-Semitic feeling at anti-war demonstrations in Paris and other French cities.He has also been disturbed by an opinion poll earlier this week that suggested one in four French people was on the side of the Iraqi government and one in three would prefer to see a victory for Saddam Hussein. Other commentators suggested that the poll – showing a majority of French people (53 per cent) wanted to see an American victory, despite 78 per cent opposition to the war – was nothing to worry about.They pointed out that the far left and the far right in France – both habitually anti-American and blindly pro-Iraqi for many years – added up to about 30 per cent of the electorate. Seen in this light, the 33 per cent “on the whole supporting Iraq” was not such a surprising total, they said.None the less, M.