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Hamas Claims Responsibility For Israel Bombing
BEIRUT, March 6 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Ezzedin al-Qassam, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, claimed responsibility Tuesday for a weekend bombing in Israel that left three Israelis dead, as well as the bomber, according to a statement received in Beirut.
"We said that 10 'kamikazes' of the Ezzdin al-Qassam group were ready for martyrdom in heroic operations, and we kept our promise on Sunday. The hero and martyr Ahmad Omar Alian, 23, was the first hero," said the statement.
Ezzedin al-Qassam, which has conducted a bombing campaign against Israel since the 1993 Oslo peace accords, had vowed to greet incoming Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon with a series of attacks when he takes office.
It said it has "more than 10 suicide bombers ready to strike the Zionist entity."
Alian blew himself up in the middle of rush-hour crowds in the Israeli coastal resort of Netanya on Sunday, killing three other people and injuring dozens more, in an attack that Sharon blamed on Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority for releasing resistance force members from its jails.
The Hamas statement said Alian, a mosque muezzin who calls the faithful to prayer, "succeeded in passing through the enemy's security checks carrying a charge of four kilos [8.8 pounds] of high explosive and sacrificed his soul to God."
Alian's father, Omar, Tuesday said his son was a hero and called on all Palestinians to follow in his footsteps.
''We are honored that he carried out this heroic act in order to liberate al-Aqsa mosque and all the holy shrines and Palestine in general. We are very glad he did it,'' he said, adding, ''we hope that every Palestinian is ready to do what our son did and to banish the Zionists from our sacred homeland.''
Ahmed left a will asking that his money be used to complete construction at a local mosque and to pay for his sister's education at al-Najah University in Nablus.
Omar, the father, already had one son, Mahmoud, blinded in one eye caused by clashes with Israelis.
Hamas promised that, "Palestinian blood will not flow in vain," adding that Israel's security cabinet would be in permanent session and still be powerless to do anything.
The armed wing of Hamas, which strongly opposes the peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians, has claimed most of the bomb and other attacks in Israel that have been carried out since 1994.
It claimed a previous suicide attack in Netanya on January 1st, when the bomber was killed and some 20 people hurt.
Israeli police and soldiers were out in force along the border with the West Bank and at shopping malls and bus stations in major towns and cities Tuesday, as Israel remained on maximum alert for attacks during the Jewish holiday of Purim this week.
Police said they feared a repeat of a bloody bombing during the festival five years ago, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a Tel Aviv shopping mall swarming with people.
Sharon's right-wing Likud party is due Tuesday to present to the Knesset, or parliament, its agreements with its coalition partners to enable the assembly to approve the government Wednesday.
The government is heavily right leaning, containing notable hawks such as defense minister Binyamin ben Eliezer and Rehavam Zeevi, who favor the expulsion of Palestinians from the occupied territories, as well as Sharon.
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