Militants use tunnel to bomb outpost

By ABRAHAM RABINOVICH in Jerusalem

Palestinian militants blew up an Israeli military outpost in the Gaza Strip yesterday by tunnelling beneath it and detonating a mine.

One Israeli soldier was killed and five wounded.

Responsibility for the blast was claimed by Hamas, which said it was in revenge for the assassination this year of its leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi.

Responsibility was also claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which said it was revenge for the killing of militant leaders in Nablus last week. Israeli officials said Hamas was the likely perpetrator.

Palestinian sources said that militants dug a tunnel 350m long from the neighbourhood of Khan Younis and detonated 1500kg of explosives beneath the Gush Katif outpost, which guards a major crossroad.

The Israeli commander in the area, Brigadier General Shmuel Zakai, said Army intelligence had warned of plans to plant a bomb beneath an Israeli outpost and ditches had been dug around them to uncover such tunnels.

"We didn't dig deep enough," he said. The tunnel was 10m to 15m below the surface.

In the past three years, Palestinians have twice before attempted to blow up outposts with mined tunnels but with less success.

Initial reports on Israel Television spoke of some 30 Israeli casualties in the blast, which left a huge crater.

A subsequent head count of the 60 soldiers in the outpost determined that there was only one fatality and five wounded. Some soldiers were dug out alive from the rubble.

An Israeli spokesmen said the night-time blast had occurred at the centre of the outpost, which was a largely open space, and not beneath buildings on the periphery in which soldiers were sleeping.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the blast would not affect his plan to pull Israeli settlements and troops out of the Gaza Strip by the end of next year.

The official said the blast might also have been aimed at discouraging Egypt from its aim of assisting the Palestinian Authority to gain control of the Gaza Strip after Israel's departure, rather than letting militant organisations dominate the area.

Palestinian sources said two Palestinians were killed in Khan Younis by Israeli fire after the blast. Israeli helicopters also fired rockets at two buildings in Gaza said to be armaments workshops.

Hamas has been seeking to carry out a major attack in retaliation for the killing of Yassin and Rantisi. Although the blast was an impressive operational success the low number of casualties will doubtless leave Hamas' desire for revenge unsated.