NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - Israeli troops forced their way into the Hamas-controlled mayor's office in the West Bank city of Nablus early on Wednesday to carry out searches, security sources and witnesses said.

The raid, in which soldiers used explosives to blow open the main door to the finance department before breaking into individual offices, was the latest in a series of actions this week against Hamas interests in the West Bank.

The soldiers confiscated a number of computers and numerous documents, the sources said.

There was no comment from the Israeli army about the incident.

Nablus Mayor Adli Yaaish and his deputy, Mahdi al-Hanbali, have been in Israeli custody for more than a year, but acting mayor Hafez Shahin slammed the raid.

"This is an aggression against the Palestinian Authority and all the citizens of Nablus because the mayor's office is in an official building that belongs to the ministry of local governments, and it is run by an elected city council."

He said the offices of both the mayor and the deputy mayor had been searched.

Troops also searched a number of mosques in Nablus and closed a Muslim religious school in the nearby village of Qabalan, security sources said.

And they seized three school buses belong to an Islamic school in Nablus.

This was the third straight day of Israeli action against Hamas interests in the West Bank.

On Tuesday, the army ordered the closure of a shopping mall in Nablus, saying the company that runs it is linked to Hamas.

A closure notice said anyong running a store in the five-storey mall after that date "could face five years in jail."

A military spokesman said on Tuesday the army was acting "against charitable organisations acting on behalf of Hamas."

He said the organisations sought to strengthen the Islamist movement, "to encourage terrorist attacks against Israel" and "to give financial support to terrorism infrastructure."

Soldiers also searched the offices of several charitable organisations in the Nablus area, Palestinian officials said.

Israel, like the European Union and the United States, blacklists Hamas as a terrorist organisation despite its upset victory in 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

On Monday, troops searched the offices of the Al-Tadamon (Solidarity) charitable association in Nablus, confiscating documents and computers before posting a sign stating the facilities "were part of terrorist infrastructure."

Israel's Haaretz newspaper said the army has decided to intensify its campaign against charities and other civil associations linked to Hamas, an Islamist movement that seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Earlier this year the army shut down several warehouses and offices of the Islamic Charity Movement and the Islamic Youth Association in the southern West Bank town of Hebron, saying they were used to funnel funds to Hamas's military wing.

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