Israeli air strike kills leading militant

Israeli medics help a Palestinian injured in the blast. Picture / Reuters

GAZA - An Israeli air strike in Gaza has killed four Palestinians, including a top Islamic Jihad militant, prompting calls of revenge by the armed group to continue targeting Israel in rocket attacks.

The missile strike occurred hours after Palestinian General Intelligence chief Tareq Abu Rajab was brought to Israel to treat wounds sustained in an explosion in an elevator at his Gaza Strip headquarters.

His ally President Mahmoud Abbas called the blast, which killed one of Abu Rajab's aides and wounded 10 people, an assassination bid.

If confirmed as a targeted attack, it would mark the highest-profile internal assassination attempt in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and could worsen enflamed tensions between loyalists of Abbas's Fatah group and Hamas supporters.

The Hamas-led government, formed after the Islamic militant group beat Fatah in a January parliamentary election and which is shunned by Washington and other world powers because of its vow to destroy Israel, said an investigation would be launched.

Saturday's missile strike, which medics said also killed a boy and his mother and grandmother, was the latest such attack since April, when an Israeli air strike killed an Islamic Jihad militant after a deadly suicide bombing by the group in Israel.

The militant, Mohammad al-Dahdouh, was a senior Islamic Jihad commander responsible for recent firings of advanced Russian-made rockets into Israel, a spokesman for the group and the Israeli army said.

Islamic Jihad has masterminded dozens of anti-Israeli attacks since a Palestinian uprising began in 2000 and killed 11 people in the Jewish state last month in a suicide bombing.

"The Zionist enemy should hurry to evacuate the settlers from (the Israeli city of) Ashkelon because our developed rockets ... will hunt them day and night," said Islamic Jihad spokesman Abu Ahmed.

Clashes erupted in Gaza earlier between Fatah and Hamas supporters after the blast at Abu Rajab's headquarters.

He was taking an elevator surrounded by a phalanx of bodyguards and aides when it exploded, apparently when a bomb planted in the lift shaft was detonated, security sources said.

Intense injuries

He was taken at Abbas's request to an Israeli hospital, where a spokeswoman said he sustained many intense injuries and was on a respirator. Palestinians have often been brought to Israel for medical treatment due to better equipment.

Tensions between Hamas and Fatah have mounted since the militant group, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, won the election and flared after Hamas formed a new 3,000-member security force last month to counter officers loyal to Abbas.

"Incitement will lead to an explosion and to more serious incidents," Palestinian Deputy Intelligence Chief Tawfiq Tirawi said in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "What happens in Gaza may be transferred to the West Bank at any minute."

After the blast, gunmen from the rival groups clashed in a gunfight, which wounded a boy. Dozens of members of the family of Rajab's aide and Fatah supporters protested against the new Hamas force, chanting, "Fatah, Fatah!" and burning tyres.

Tirawi told reporters that the Hamas forces may have caused the explosion. The Palestinian Interior Ministry said it would launch an investigation into the incident, which Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called "unfortunate".

Tirawi said the Hamas "militias" have recently been buying and collecting weapons and explosives. Several Palestinian officials said Hamas has been purchasing arms in the West Bank and Gaza since it won a parliamentary election in January.

There was no immediate comment from Hamas.

Palestinian security sources had said in recent days that they had suspected an assassination plot against Abu Rajab was in the works. Masked gunmen had shot and wounded one of the intelligence chief's bodyguards on Sunday.

Hamas was accused of being behind a 2004 assassination attempt against Abu Rajab in which he was shot by unidentified gunmen. Hamas has denied responsibility.

- REUTERS