Hamas Claims Responsibility for Suicide Bombing

The Palestinian Resistance Movement (Hamas) Monday afternoon claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the Erez border post at the northern edge of the Gaza Strip early Monday, which killed bomber himself and slightly wounding two Israeli guards.

The claim came in a press statement released by Hamas, saying that the operation was in retaliation for the assassination of its leader Mahmoud Abu Hannoud by Israeli troops, and the killing of five Palestinian boys in an Israeli explosion in the Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses said that the explosion, in which the bomber was killed and two Israeli policemen were slightly injured, happened just before the border guards approached to examine the bomber who was trying to enter the Israeli Gaza Industrialized Zone, where many Palestinians work.

Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders to stop retaliatory operations during the upcoming visit by a US envoy to the region opposed all Palestinian groups to a call.

This rejection came at the wrapping up of a conference on national solidarity held on Sunday.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Popular Front for Liberating Palestine and the Palestinian mainstream Fatah, which emphasized that they would carry on resistance against the Israeli occupation through all legitimate means, attended the gathering.

A Palestinian suicide bomber early Monday attacked the Erez border post at the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, killing himself and slightly wounding two Israeli guards.

Witnesses said that the explosion happened just before the border guards approached to examine the bomber who was trying to enter the Israeli Gaza Industrialized Zone, where many Palestinians work.

The Palestinian set off explosives fastened round his waist, instantly killing himself and slightly wounding two border guards, but no others were injured, they said.

An Israeli radio report confirmed that the two Israeli guards, injured by fragments in the arms and legs, were quickly taken to an Israeli hospital in nearby Ashkelon. Their lives were not in danger, an official of the Israeli ambulance service was quoted saying.

The death brings to 992 the number of those killed in Palestine's 14-month-long intifada or uprising, including 780 Palestinians and 190 Israelis.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2001)