UPDATED: IDF TERMINATES ISLAMIC JIHAD LEADERS

Anti-terror unit kills Islamic Jihad's Bethlehem leadership (JPost)
Five terrorists, including the Islamic Jihad leadership in Bethlehem, were killed in two clashes with the IDF in the West Bank on Wednesday.

In the morning, IDF soldiers surrounded a house in Seida, near Tulkarm, and in ensuing gun battles killed Saleh Karkur, 27, an Islamic Jihad gunman. The IDF demolished half of the house. Islamic Jihad released a statement in Gaza saying Karkur was one of the group's top West Bank commanders and threatened to avenge his death.

In the evening, a team from the Israel Police's elite Yamam counterterror unit raided Bethlehem and killed four Islamic Jihad gunmen. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) said the four had constituted the leadership of the terrorist group's armed wing in the city. When the men's bodies were inspected, they were found to be carrying rifles and pistols.

Among the dead was Mahmoud Shehada, 45, the commander of Islamic Jihad in Bethlehem. He had been on Israel's wanted list for eight years, since the eruption of the second intifada, for involvement in a number of deadly terror attacks. Another of the dead was Ahmad Balbul, 48, reported to have been a member of both Fatah's Aksa Martyrs Brigades and the Bethlehem City Council.

UPDATE: Report: IDF Kills Mastermind of Jerusalem Terror Attack - Ali Waked
Palestinian sources say Muhammad Shahade was behind the terror attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem last week in which eight Israeli students were killed. Shahade, a former Fatah member and an Islamic Jihad operative, has been known to have extensive ties with Hizbullah. (Ynet News)

See also Abbas Calls IDF Killing of Islamic Jihad Terrorists a "Barbaric Crime" - Roee Nahmias (Ynet News)