Hamas Pledges Revenge for Killing
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Israeli Forces Kill a Top Leader of Islamic Group in West Bank (November 24, 2001)
Filed at 12:02 p.m. ET
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) -- The Islamic militant group Hamas threatened bloody revenge Saturday after the leader of its military wing in the West Bank and two other activists were killed in a targeted Israeli missile attack.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians joined the funeral procession, chanting ``Sharon, wait, revenge is coming soon,'' a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Gunmen fired in the air, and marchers waved green Hamas flags.
The Hamas leader in Nablus, Teissir Imran, told the crowd that ``Sharon opened the door to hell, for himself and his people.''
The killing of Mahmoud Abu Hanoud, suspected mastermind of several major suicide attacks in Israel since 1997, is expected to plunge the region into more turmoil as the United States is launching a new Mideast peace mission.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Abu Hanoud was a ``professional terrorist'' responsible for the deaths of scores of Israelis, and that Israel acted in self defense in killing him. Peres, speaking on Israel Radio, said Abu Hanoud, 34, had planned to carry out more attacks.
Nabil Abu Irdeineh, an adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, accused Israel of trying to sabotage U.S. peace efforts by killing Abu Hanoud.
Two mediators, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns and retired Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, are expected to arrive Monday in an attempt to revive a truce deal and peace talks.
The targeted killings came at a time of growing tension. On Thursday, five boys from the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip were killed when they stepped on some explosives.
Israel admitted Saturday its forces had planted the bomb in a place from which Palestinian militants had been firing mortars, anti-tank weapons and automatic weapons at nearby Jewish settlements and army positions.
``From an initial investigation ... the possibility emerges that the children were killed because they were playing with a bomb which Israeli soldiers had planted in the sandbagged position which had been used for terrorist attacks on our forces,'' the army statement said, adding that the position was outside the populated area of the camp.
Abu Hanoud, his deputy Ayman Hashaykah and Hashaykah's brother, a lower-ranking Hamas activist, were driving in a van between the West Bank towns of Nablus and Jenin on Friday evening when their vehicle was hit by several Israeli missiles fired from a helicopter, Palestinian security officials.
Mustafa Abu Hanoud, a brother of the Hamas leader, said he was told by a witness that the van was hit by six missiles and heavy machine gun fire. Abu Hanoud's body was torn apart in the attack, the brother said.
The Hamas military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, said in a leaflet that it is ``committed to avenging the blood of one of our leaders.''
Hamas declared three days of mourning and asked Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to observe a strike Saturday.
Hamas has carried out a series of suicide bombings in Israel in recent years, including several that came as revenge for the killings of senior members by Israel. In response to Israel's killing of a top Hamas bombmaker in 1996, Hamas carried out four major suicide bombings that killed scores of Israelis.
Israel has tried to capture Abu Hanoud in the past.
In August 2000, three Israeli undercover troops were killed by friendly fire in a botched attempt to arrest him in his home village of Assira al-Shamaliya near Nablus. Abu Hanoud fled and was taken into custody by the Palestinian Authority.
Last May, he was injured when Israeli warplanes retaliating for a suicide attack at a shopping mall in Israel bombed the Nablus prison where he was being held. Israel said he was released after the air strike.
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