RAMALLAH, June 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The Israeli army and security forces continued on Wednesday their crack down on members and militants of the Islamic Jihad movement in the West Bank.

    An Islamic Jihad militant in the city of Tulkarem in the West Bank said that the clashes took place between Israeli soldiers and militants of his group as an Israeli army force raided the village of Qufer Raie at pre-dawn Wednesday.

    He said that an Israeli force arrested a number of Islamic Jihad militants Tuesday evening as they were besieged by the force in an abandoned house in the city.

    "The group managed to survive from the siege and pulled back from the area where the Israeli force followed them and clashed with them," the Jihad militant clarified.

    Meanwhile, residents of Tulkarem said that the Israeli army troops who stormed the city in the early morning searched civilian houses and destroyed their furniture and houses contents and detained two Palestinians.

    Another Israeli army unit raided the village of Al-Rashaydeh, east of Bethlehem, destroying cattle farms belonging to Palestinian villagers after claiming their livestock were grazing in areas considered closed to Israeli military zones. Enditem