The Hindu : International : Hamas calls off truce, fires barrage of rockets at Israel

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Sunday, Jun 11, 2006

International

International

Hamas calls off truce, fires barrage of rockets at Israel

Militant group threatens "earth-shaking" response

BEIT LAHIYA (Gaza Strip): The ruling Hamas group fired a barrage of 15 rockets at Israel on Saturday, hours after calling off a truce with Israel in anger over an artillery attack that killed seven civilians in Gaza.

The Hamas militants' announcement to call off the cease-fire, reached in February 2005, raised the prospect of a renewed campaign of deadly suicide bombings and a wave of bloodshed.

Hamas also claimed responsibility on Saturday for firing at Israel at least 15 rockets, as well as a barrage of mortar bombs. The attacks caused no casualties.

``The earthquake in the Zionist towns will start again and the aggressors will have no choice but to prepare their coffins or their luggage,'' the Hamas militants said in a leaflet. They vowed to "`continue the resistance with these earth-shaking actions.'' Israel's artillery attack on Friday was part of a wider aerial and artillery bombardment of suspected Palestinian rocket-launching sites that killed a total of 10 people, three of them militants.

The violence fuelled tensions already high over an Israeli air strike on Thursday that killed the Hamas Government's top militant commander, Jamal Abu Samhadana.

Friday's artillery attack tore into a beach-side picnic in Gaza, killing seven civilians, and leading Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to condemn the attack as a ``genocidal crime.'' He called for international intervention and declared a three-day period of mourning.

His rival, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, said the shelling was a ``war crime'' and urged an end to recent fighting between Hamas and Mr. Abbas' moderate Fatah movement.

But overnight on Saturday, gunmen shot and killed a 39-year-old Palestinian security officer in a botched kidnapping attempt. The force, loyal to Mr. Abbas and Fatah, accused Hamas of the killing and vowed to ``stop Hamas' game whatever the price.''

During the funeral procession for Maj. Bassam Qutub, a gunbattle erupted between gunmen from Hamas and the Preventive Security force. — AP

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