Israel launches Gaza air strikes in retaliation for Eilat attacks

Air strikes come hours after gunmen armed with heavy weapons and explosives killed at least seven people in southern Israel Israel launched air strikes on Gaza on Thursday after blaming militants in the Palestinian territory for deadly attacks near Eilat earlier in the day. Militants said five Palestinians were killed in the strikes. Earlier at least seven people died when squads of gunmen armed with heavy weapons and explosives crossed into southern Israel from Egypt and attacked buses, cars and an army patrol, officials said. The Israeli government immediately blamed attackers from Gaza. “This is specific information,” said spokesman Mark Regev. “This is not an assessment. This is not an estimation. This is very, very precise information that they came out of Gaza. We have no doubt.” He did not provide further detail. Taher Nunu, a spokesman for the Hamas government in Gaza, denied that the militants were involved. “Gaza has nothing to do with these attacks in Eilat,” Nunu said. The attacks in Israel began around midday local time and lasted for about three hours. Assailants targeted a packed bus driving along a road about 10 miles north of the Red Sea resort, close to the border crossing into Sinai. Within the space of about an hour, the attackers opened fire on another bus and two civilian vehicles on the same road, and an army vehicle rushing to the area drove over an explosive device, the military said in a statement. TV footage showed a bus pulled off the road with its door and windows shattered, and soldiers were patrolling the area on foot. Inside the bus, seats were stained with blood, and luggage littered the aisle. “We heard a shot and saw a window explode. I didn’t really understand what was happening at first. After another shot there was chaos in the bus and everyone jumped on everyone else,” passenger Idan Kaner told Channel 2 TV. He said the attack lasted three or four minutes until the bus was able to drive away. Roadblocks were thrown up in the area and entrances and exits to Eilat were sealed. The military said a “large number” of assailants were working in multiple squads, but gave no specifics. “We are talking about a terror squad that infiltrated into Israel,” Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said. “This is a combined terrorist attack against Israelis.” Israeli security forces tracked down some of the assailants and killed seven in a gunbattle, she added. Almost immediately Israel said the attackers came from the Gaza Strip and made their way through Sinai, which borders both Israel and Gaza. “The incident underscores the weak Egyptian hold on Sinai and the broadening of the activities of terrorists,” the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, said in a statement. “The real source of the terror is in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and determination.” Security in Sinai has deteriorated sharply since February, when Hosni Mubarak was toppled from power. The attack comes just a week after the Egyptian army said it was about to launch an operation in Sinai to target what it described as “al-Qaida elements” on the Egyptian side of the border who had attacked a gas pipeline. In Egypt, a senior security official denied that the attackers crossed into Israel from Sinai or that the buses were fired at from inside Egyptian territory. “The border is heavily guarded,” said a Sinai-based official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. Israel Palestinian territories Middle East guardian.co.uk

Posted by on August 18, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.