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Israeli air strike kills top Gaza militant

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 December 2005, 11:56 CST

GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed a senior militant in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and wounded 10 other people, three of them children, Palestinian medics said.

The strike came two days after Israel vowed to avenge a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis at a shopping mall in the central coastal town of Netanya.

The Israeli army said its aircraft had targeted a vehicle driven by a senior militant accused of involvement in sniper fire and other attacks on Israeli troops.

Palestinian medics said two rockets killed Mahmud el-Arqan, 29, a leading member of the Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition of militant groups, and that shrapnel wounded 10 passersby, including three children younger than 10 years old.

Witnesses said the missiles struck the car as it rounded a bend on a road in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah.

Abu Radwan, a spokesman for the Popular Committees, confirmed that el-Arqan, a top field commander, and head of their sniper unit had been killed and that the group would seek revenge for the slaying.

"We will inevitably react. The blood of our martyrs will never go to waste," Abu Radwan said.

Israel had resolved to retaliate for Monday's bombing in Netanya, though a different militant group, Islamic Jihad, had claimed responsibility for that attack.

Israel has assassinated militant leaders in the past by air strikes on their vehicles.

Source: REUTERS

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