Israeli missile strike kills 2 Gaza militants
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-21 10:43

An Israeli missile strike killed at least two Hamas gunmen in Gaza City Monday, a day after a top commander of the Islamic militant group was killed in a similar attack, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said.

Tensions have increased in Gaza since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced a plan to withdraw troops and settlers by the end of next year from the narrow coastal strip captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Relatives of Nabil Assaidi, one of two Hamas militant killed in an Israeli missile strike, weep in Gaza September 20, 2004. An Israeli missile strike killed at least two Hamas gunmen in Gaza City on Monday, a day after a top commander of the Islamic militant group was killed in a similar attack, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said. [Reuters]

Militants hope to make the army withdraw under fire. Israel is determined to crush armed groups before leaving and vowed to target leaders of Hamas after the group carried out a suicide bombing that killed 16 Israelis last month.

At least eight Palestinians, including bystanders, were wounded in Monday night's explosion, which ripped apart the gunmen's car.

Witnesses described a flash of light from Israeli aircraft circling overhead before the blast.

The Israeli army declined to comment.

Israelis hold a home-made mock kassam rocket during a demonstration in the southern Israeli town of Shderot September 20, 2004. Israelis demonstrated in the centre of Shderot, demanding a more aggressive reaction against Palestinian militants who shot Kassam rockets towards their town. [Reuters]

Palestinians gathered round the wreckage, chanting: "We will give our souls and our blood for the martyrs." They also vowed revenge on Israel, which has killed scores of militants in air strikes during a four-year-old Palestinian uprising.

Some 10,000 Palestinian mourners earlier demanded revenge for the killing of senior Hamas commander Khaled Abu Selmiya, 33, in a missile strike that tore apart his car Sunday.

Hamas, which has sworn to destroy the Jewish state, said Selmiya had been behind numerous suicide bombings. Israeli officials said he had also played a key role in making crude Qassam rockets.

Militants fired a rocket Monday at the southern Israeli town of Sderot, hitting a residential area but causing no casualties.

Troops shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian in the central Gaza Strip overnight, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said.

Underlying the growing lawlessness in Palestinian areas, masked gunmen executed two Palestinians accused of collaborating with Israel in the West Bank town of Tulkarm. One was machine-gunned in a town square.

Palestinians have killed scores of their brethren accused of helping Israeli forces seek out and kill militants in fighting that began in September 2000. International human rights groups have condemned the vigilante killings.

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