Six Israeli soldiers were killed and another was seriously wounded Tuesday night, in a shooting attack at the Ein Ariq junction, northwest of Ramallah in the West Bank.
Israel Radio reported that an eighth soldier at the site managed to escape unharmed and briefed security forces on the details of the attack.
According to media reports, Palestinian fighters opened fire on a caravan and a nearby building in which the Israeli troops were located.
Israeli security forces said the shooting was very precise and the Palestinian gunmen fled the scene.
The military wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, claimed responsibility for this attack. A short time later, Hamas also declared its activists carried out this attack.
Hamas
Earlier, four home-made Qassam missiles landed in two Israeli communities, near the Gaza Strip. They fell in an open area, causing no casualties or damage. Hamas members from five kilometers away fired the rockets, Israel Radio reported.
Meanwhile, Hamas' spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, has called on Muslims around the world to launch a holy war, or jihad, to liberate their countries from US influence.
Yassin made these remarks in a letter published in time for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, which commemorates God's provision of a ram to substitute for Abraham's impending sacrifice of his son.
"Sons of Islam everywhere, the jihad is a duty - to establish the rule of Allah on earth and to liberate your countries and yourselves from America's domination and its Zionist allies, it is your battle - either victory or martyrdom," Yassin said in the letter.
Yassin castigated the Arab world and accused its leaders of abandoning the Palestinian cause.
"Where are the Muslim people's sponsors? Where are its kings? Where are its leaders? The Muslim people is calling upon you, Jerusalem is appealing to you, will anyone
answer?" Yassin said in the letter.
Yassin attacked the US for its campaign in Afghanistan following the attacks of September 11, calling the war "a terrorist offensive against the Muslim people in Afghanistan and Islamic resistance movements everywhere."
Yassin said Palestinians would continue their uprising, despite the deteriorating living conditions of many.
"We must prepare ourselves for a lengthy battle because this century is the century of Islam, the century of liberation, the century of victory and sovereignty, by Allah's will all those oppressive regimes will diminish and with our determination and sacrifices we will be the coming power," he said. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
