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Air strike kills Hamas leader
01/05/2008 17:25 - (SA)
Gaza City - An air strike on Thursday killed a Hamas military leader in Gaza who took part in the 2006 capture of an Israeli soldier, the Israeli military said.
The Israelis "targeted and identified hitting Nafiz Mansur, a Hamas terror operative who was involved in terror attacks against Israel", it said in a statement.
"Mansur was involved, among other attacks, in the capture of Gilad Shalit," it said in reference to the Israeli seized by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid from Gaza claimed by Hamas and two other armed groups.
The statement said the militant also bore responsibility for the killing of two Israeli soldiers in a July 2006 attack, and took part in setting up a suicide assault on a border post on April 19 this year.
The Islamist Hamas movement confirmed Mansur's death and said it would "respond to this crime at the adequate time and place".
Mansur, 40, was killed near his home in Rafah, according to Muawiyah Hassanein who heads the Gaza emergency services. Three more people, including a child, were wounded in the air strike, he said.
Following the air strike at least eight rockets and three mortar rounds were fired by Gaza militants at southern Israel, causing some damage but no casualties, a military spokesperson said.
"In the city of Sderot, several of these projectiles caused damage, including to a house, a sports hall and a school," she told AFP.
The latest death brings to 446 the total number of people, mostly Gaza militants, killed since Israel and the Palestinians re-launched peace negotiations at a US-hosted conference in November, according to an AFP tally.
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