Israeli soldiers surprised a terrorist from the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades while he was meeting with a British reporter: Militant killed while meeting reporter. (Hat tip: LGF readers.)

ISRAELI soldiers killed a Palestinian militant as he was meeting a British reporter in the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses said.

They said soldiers broke into a house where Mohammed Alasi, 24, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, was talking to the reporter.

Alasi tried to flee, but soldiers shot him dead and took his body, witnesses said.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

The witnesses did not know which news outlet the reporter represented, giving her name only as “Annie”.

DEBKAfile says this was no “reporter,” but a pro-Palestinian “peace activist” (ISM?) who specializes in sheltering terrorists.

DEBKAfile reports: Senior Fatah operative Mohamed al-Asi was killed fleeing from the Nablus home of a British pro-Palestinian peace activist who is wont to harbor al Aqsa terrorists on the run. A big fish in the Fatah terror apparatus, he worked directly with the same Damascus-based radical Hamas and Jihadi Islami commanders who last week spurned Mahmoud Abbas’ appeal for a ceasefire.

UPDATE at 7/14/05 7:50:54 am:

More information from the Jerusalem Post:

Alassi was reportedly responsible for coordination between the West Bank Islamic Jihad cells and the organization’s headquarters in Damascus, and was linked to the orchestration and carrying out of numerous terror attacks against Israel.

During the attempt to arrest Alassi, a second fugitive was wounded by IDF gunfire, Army Radio reported.

According to AP, Alassi was in the company of a British national at the time of the arrest, who Palestinian witnesses said was a reporter.

The army rejected the claims that the British woman was a journalist, and said she was an activist who gave refuge to fugitives in her home.

Palestinian police said the British woman was being questioned at her home, where she was said to be in shock. They said she was about 60 years old, had been living in Nablus for a few years and had changed her last name to “Alasi.” They did not know her original family name.