Associated Press An unidentified gunman carries "Palestine," the six-month-old daughter of militia leader Raed Karmi in Tulkarem yesterday. Israeli officials had no comment on Palestinian charges that its agents killed Karmi, who died in an explosion outside his West Bank hideout in Tulkarem Monday.

TULKAREM, West Bank - A Palestinian militia leader who boasted of shooting Israelis was killed when a bomb exploded as he emerged from his West Bank hideout and walked along a quiet street yesterday. Hours later and close by, Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli and wounded another in a roadside ambush, security sources said.

No one claimed responsibility for either attack, which pointed to a renewed cycle of retaliatory violence that has marked the conflict in and around Tulkarem since the Palestinian uprising began nearly 16 months ago.

Yesterday's violence further undermined U.S. truce efforts, and it was not clear whether U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni would return to the region this week as planned.

Palestinians accused Israel of planting the bomb that went off exactly as militia leader, Raed Karmi, 27, strode past on a residential street that bordered a cemetery. The bomb sprayed Karmi with shrapnel, leaving a cavity on the roadside and a pool of blood on the blacktop where Karmi died.

Without confirming or denying involvement, Israel issued a statement shortly after the explosion saying Karmi was responsible for the shooting deaths of nine Israelis.

"A man like this is a like a ticking bomb," Israeli Transport Minister Ephraim Sneh told Army Radio. "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."

Israel tried to kill Karmi in September, when army helicopters fired missiles at his car on a Tulkarem street. Two members of his militia were killed, but Karmi suffered only light wounds.

Israel has killed dozens of suspected Palestinian militants in targeted attacks since the fighting erupted. Israel says the killings are intended as a deterrent, but Palestinians condemn them as assassinations, and they often trigger Palestinian revenge attacks.

Hundreds of Palestinians carried Karmi's bloodied body through the streets on a stretcher, clamoring for revenge. Weeping mourners crowded around the body, kissing Karmi goodbye and stroking his hair and face. One gunman fired wildly in the air.

Karmi's militia, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, announced it would resume attacks on Israelis that had been suspended following Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's call for a truce with Israel on Dec. 16.

"The so-called cease-fire is a joke and is canceled, canceled, canceled," the group wrote in a leaflet. "Revenge is coming."

A group of the gunmen met journalists at a house in Tulkarem, where photos featuring Karmi and other militia members brandishing arms hung from the walls. The gunmen claimed they had observed Arafat's cease-fire for the past month in Tulkarem, but Israel had continued to attack Palestinians.

Karmi "has many friends, and maybe one of them will do something," said a militia member who gave his name as Abu Rabia.

A few hours later and about six miles southeast of Tulkarem, Palestinian gunmen shot dead one Israeli and wounded a second in a roadside ambush, an Israeli security source said.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, did not comment on the shooting, but it was similar in style to the group's previous attacks.

Tulkarem, which sits just inside the West Bank and is only 12 miles from Israel's Mediterranean coast, has been involved in spasms of violence throughout the Palestinian uprising.

Palestinian gunmen from Tulkarem carried out multiple shootings in the fall of 2000, during the first days of the uprising. Then, Thabet Thabet, a Palestinian dentist and leader of the Fatah movement in Tulkarem, was killed in a rocket attack that Palestinians blamed on Israel.

Several weeks later, a pair of young Israeli restaurant owners made a shopping trip to Tulkarem, were seized from a cafe where they were having lunch and were shot execution style. In an interview, Karmi said he took part in the shootings in revenge for the killing of Thabet. Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat accused Israel of trying to sabotage Zinni's mission.

"The Israeli government is inviting Palestinian reaction, and we hold (Israel) responsible for the escalation of this cycle," he said.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, meanwhile, said Israel has decided to stop demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, would not confirm or deny that such a decision was made.

Israel has been engaged in a stormy debate over the army's demolition of dozens of buildings in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza last week. Israel said it demolished empty houses that gunmen were using for cover in attacks against Israeli forces. But U.N. aid workers have said hundreds of Palestinians were made homeless.