* Hisham al-Rukh was attacked while driving home in the Jenin refugee camp, which has been the focal point of a broad sweep by PA security forces since May following an upsurge of violence led by criminal gangs and corrupt security officers.

* In May, Palestinian Authority forces launched a large scale security crackdown in the Jenin district after gunmen opened fire on the home of late governor Qaddura Musa, leading to a heart attack which caused his death.

* In April 2011, Juliano Mer-Khamis, the General-Director of the Freedom Theater, was killed in Jenin. Unknown gunmen inside the city's refugee camp opened fire on his car, Jenin police said at the time.



Gunmen killed a colonel in the Palestinian security forces early on Wednesday when they raked his car with gunfire in the northernWest Bank city of Jenin, local officials said.

Hisham al-Rukh was attacked while driving home in the Jenin refugee camp, which has been the focal point of a broad sweep by security forces since May following an upsurge of violence led by criminal gangs and corrupt security officers.

The incident follows an attack last month in the center of Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority's de facto capital, when a gunmen opened fire on Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's offices. No one was injured.

"An investigation is being undertaken to find out who is behind this incident," Jenin Governor Talal Dweikat told Palestinian radio after the shooting.


Dweikat's predecessor died of a heart attack after chasing unidentified gunmen who attacked his home in early May. Palestinian officials blamed the attack on criminal gangs, weapons smugglers and former terrorist leaders whom they suspect of having ties with rogue members of the security forces.


In response to the May attack the Palestinian Authority ordered its elite forces to expand the crackdown beyond Jenin to other West Bank cities and camps.


Wednesday's shooting undermines the campaign and a drive to impose the authority of Palestinian security forces throughout areas under the Authority's control in the occupied West Bank.

A number of members of the PA security forces were questioned on suspicion of involvement in different illicit activities, and illegally possessed weapons were confiscated, commander of Jenin's security forces Radi Asida said.

The northern West Bank city of Jenin became known as a center for Palestinian fighters during the second intifada, with many militant groups launching attacks on Israeli targets from the Jenin refugee camp.

In April 2011, Juliano Mer-Khamis, the General-Director of the Freedom Theater, was killed in Jenin. Unknown gunmen inside the city's refugee camp opened fire on his car, Jenin police said at the time.


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