The military wing of Hamas, the Ezzeddin Al Qassam Brigades, has claimed responsibility for a Monday morning suicide attack at the Erez crossing point in Gaza. Meanwhile, another resistance group close to the Fateh movement said it attacked the motorcade of Israeli chief of staff Shaul Mofaz, who escaped injury.
In a statement faxed to Albawaba.com, Hamas identified the resistance fighter as Tayseer Ahmad Ajrami, saying he killed himself and wounded two Israeli soldiers.
The statement said that Ajrami had been very insistent and unrelentingly called on his leaders to allow him carry out such an attack. Ajrami did all the surveillance work and the planning for the attack, said the statement.
Ajrami set off the explosives wrapped around his body just before arriving at the Israeli military checkpoint, one of many that dot the Occupied Territories.
Two border police officers sustained minor wounds in the blast, the Jerusalem Post said.
The attack is the second on Israelis since warnings of revenge from Palestinians at the funeral of Mahmoud Abu Hannoud, a senior Hamas militant who was assassinated by Israeli forces on Friday.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians joined the leader's funeral procession, chanting “Sharon, wait, revenge is coming soon,'' a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose administration initiated the assassinations of around 60 Palestinians in the last several months.
Meanwhile, the Popular Army Vanguards, a resistance group close to Fateh, said it had targeted on Sunday evening a motorcade of Mofaz with a roadside bomb in the Hebron area in the West Bank.
No injuries were reported.
Over 700 Palestinians and more than 180 Israelis have been killed in the latest Palestinian rebellion against 34 years of Israeli military occupation. – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
