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Al-Aqsa Brigades Claim Beit Shean Attack, Israel Threatens Reprisal
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| At least four Israelis were killed and 20 others wounded in attack in Beit Shean |
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.
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