Posted on 11/28/2002 3:02:33 PM PST by knighthawk
JENIN, West Bank, November 28 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility Thursday, November 28, for the shooting attack in the northern Israeli town of Beit Shean in which six people were killed, including four Israelis, with Israel threatening tough response.
In an anonymous call to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the caller said the Al-Aqsa Brigades, an armed offshoot of Fatah movement, had carried out the shooting and grenade attack on a Likud party polling station In Beit Shean to avenge the death of two resistance leaders in Jenin two days ago.
Alaa Sabbagh, 25, the local leader of the brigades, and Imad Nacharti, 23, the local head of Hamas' Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, were killed when an Israeli missile hit their house in Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian security sources saifd at the time.
However, the Israeli army denied any involvement in the blast.
Thursday's shooting came only hours after two back-to-back attacks against Israeli targets in Kenya.
A car bomb killed 15 people, including three Israelis, in the coastal Kenyan town of Mombasa, and two missiles almost hit an Israeli airliner over Kenya shortly afterward.
At east four Israeli were killed and more than 20 others wounded, including 10 in critical condition, in the shooting and grenade attack on the Likud headquarters in the northern Israeli town of Beit Shean, some eight kilometers (five miles) from the Jordanian border.
The two gunmen, who sprayed automatic gunfire and threw grenades at the polling station, killing at least four people, were shot dead by police, spokesman Ofer Sivan old AFP.
Public television said one of the dead gunmen was wearing an explosives belt.
Mayor Pini Caballo confirmed on television that the attack targeted the Likud offices, while a police spokesman said the attack only targeted the nearby bus station.
Four people were in serious condition and seven sustained moderate wounds, reported the Israeli Haaretz newspaper.
Most of the injured were evacuated to Haemek Hospital in Afula.
According to initial reports, the attack was carried out by two fighters, who opened fire and threw grenades at people crowding around the branch, which is located in the town's central bus station.
Israel threatened a tough response to fresh attacks on its citizens Thursday, after double attacks in Kenya and a shooting attack on a Likud polling station.
"The war of terrorism they (Palestinian resistance fighters) launched against us leaves us with no other choice but to destroy them before they destroy us," Israeli government spokesman Raanan Gissin told AFP.
"There is no doubt that one of the reasons for this upsurge in terrorist activity is probably an effort to try and disrupt the electoral process in Israel and Israeli democracy," Gissin claimed.
"Tomorrow is the 55th anniversary of the U.N. resolution 181 partitioning Palestine. Terrorists should have supported resolution if they wanted peace," the spokesman alleged.
"The truth of the matter is that Al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas have all inscribed on their flags the complete obliteration ... of the State of Israel.
"I think the effort is to provoke Israel into such a harsh response, or deflect the attention from the efforts of the U.S., which is trying to upset the regime in Iraq," Gissin said.
The attack comes as Likud members are going to the polls across the country to choose their candidate for prime minister in the coming elections.
Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is challenging Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for the leadership of the center-right party.
Good Point!
Every known residence of every terrorist leader should be targeted, and Arafat is a terrorist leader.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.