Hamas faction claims responsibility for tunnel blast

(13 Dec 2004)

1. Masked armed Hamas militants walking along road
2. Masked armed Hamas militants standing in front of wall
3. Photographer
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Masked Hamas militant:
"The terror unit from Izzedine El Qassam, the military wing of Hamas and Fatah Hawks succeeded in bombing and ruining the Rafah military passage that is in the Southern part of the Gaza Strip, near the Egyptian border. The heroes of Al Qassam succeeded digging a long tunnel that gets until the military post and planted not less than one and a half tons of explosives and the explosion took place in two steps."
5. Gunmen walking away

STORYLINE:

Palestinian militants blew up an Israeli army base at the Gaza-Egypt crossing on Sunday by sneaking more than a ton of explosives through a tunnel, killing four Israeli soldiers and wounding at least 10 others.

The explosion, which resulted in the collapse of several structures, was the largest Palestinian attack in the month since Yasser Arafat's death.

Israel said the attack jeopardised peace moves and demanded Palestinian action to stop militants. The military wing of Hamas and Fatah Hawks claimed responsibility.

Speaking in Gaza, a masked man told reporters that "The terror unit from Izzedine El Qassam, the military wing of Hamas and Fatah Hawks succeeded in bombing and ruining the Rafah military passage."

A Palestinian militant, who said his name was Abu Majad, said gunmen attacked the Israeli position after the blast. Fatah Hawks is an offshoot of the mainstream Fatah Party, and the violent Islamic Hamas.

A Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 1.5 tons of explosives were set off in the blast, and a second, smaller explosive was detonated later.

Masked Hamas militants claimed that a gunman tried to kidnap a wounded soldier but killed him because the soldier resisted.

Abu Majad said the explosives-filled tunnel was 800 metres long.

He said the attack was retaliation for what he called "the assassination" of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who died in a French hospital November 11, 2004. Some Palestinians claim he was poisoned by Israel.

On Tuesday, an Israeli soldier was killed in a blast at the entrance to another tunnel near the Gaza-Israel border, setting off Israeli retaliation that killed four Palestinians.

Gissin said the attack could jeopardise efforts to normalise Israeli-Palestinian relations and restart peace moves after Arafat's death.

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