Security officials said a car bomb Friday killed a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad ¡ª the Iran-backed militant group that continues to attack Israel. His brother was also killed in the explosion, which the group blamed on Israeli intelligence.

Lebanese Red Cross personnel carry Mahmoud Majzoub, a leading member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, on a stretcher after he was killed when a parked car exploded while he was walking with his brother Nidal near the central square, in Sidon, 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, May 26, 2006. [Reuters]

Mahmoud Majzoub, a member of the group's policy-making Shura Council body and its leader in Sidon, 24 miles south of Beirut, was walking with his brother, Nidal, near the central square of this coastal city when a parked car was detonated by remote control, security officials said.

Mahmoud Majzoub survived the blast but died during surgery, while Nidal Majzoub was killed instantly, said the security officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The group has continued to launch attacks on Israel since a February 2005 truce that the main militant group Hamas, which swept Palestinian legislative elections, has respected.