DURA, West Bank - Hamas commander Abdel Majid Dudin, on the IDF's (Israel Defense Forces) most-wanted list for the past 14 years, was killed by Israeli forces near the Arab village of Dura on Thursday.

Dudin, 45, who headed the terror group's military wing in the southern Hevron Hills, directed numerous terror attacks, including suicide bombings on buses in Jerusalem and Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, which claimed the lives of many Israeli citizens.

Dudin was also wanted by the Palestinian Authority, which had arrested, jailed and released him in the past.

An elite unit of IDF border policemen, working with the Judea and Samaria Division's Judea Brigade and the Shin Bet (General Security Agency), arrived in the area to arrest Dudin.

According to preliminary reports, in the hours-long operation, IDF forces blew up a well used to store explosives and used a bulldozer to try to flush Dudin out of the house in which he was hiding.

In related counter-terror operations on Wednesday night, IDF troops arrested 12 wanted men, two in Jenin, seven in Nablus (biblical Shechem) and three in Jericho, who will be questioned by security personnel.

Source: YNet news