Six Palestinians die in failed attack on Israelis

10.45am

EREZ BORDER CROSSING - Six Palestinians have been killed during a failed assault on a Gaza border post in speeding jeeps disguised as Israeli military vehicles.

It was an unusual combined attack by three groups, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- part of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

"This was just the first of future joint operations confirming that we choose resistance and unity," the three organisations said in a joint statement, announcing the deaths of four militants.

Two Palestinian policemen, who an Israeli general said may have been trying to stop the attack, were also killed in disputed circumstances.

Cooperation among the militant groups, which have ignored Palestinian Authority calls for a cease-fire with Israel, is likely to fuel US fears that Israel's threatened unilateral pullback in Gaza could cause anarchy in the area.

The fake army jeeps, complete with wire mesh screens used as protection against Palestinian rock-throwers, was a new tactic in a Palestinian uprising that began in September 2000.

Brigadier-General Gadi Shamni, commander of Israeli forces in northern Gaza, said the assault began when a Palestinian car exploded at the heavily guarded main Israel-Gaza border crossing at Erez.

Hamas called it a suicide bombing and said the driver was killed. Shamni said no Israelis were hurt.

Soon after, two jeeps painted in Israeli army khaki raced to the scene as if responding to the blast and a Palestinian gunman in the lead vehicle fired on soldiers, who shot him and the driver dead, Shamni told Reuters by telephone.

The second jeep then exploded near a Palestinian police post about 100 metres away, killing the driver, Shamni said. Hospital officials said two other Palestinians, both policemen, were killed and 15 wounded.

"It's possible the Palestinian (policemen) tried to stop the jeep and the driver blew himself up or something malfunctioned," Shamni said. Palestinian security sources said Israeli forces had fired at the vehicle. Shamni denied this.

ECONOMIC LIFELINE

The violence at the flashpoint frontier erupted three days after an Israeli missile strike killed three Hamas militants in Gaza, which like the West Bank was sealed off by Israel on Thursday in a security alert for the Jewish holiday of Purim.

For thousands of Palestinian laborers Erez, in the northern Gaza Strip, is a gateway to coveted jobs in Israel and in an Israeli-run industrial zone at the crossing.

"The Palestinians, in their zeal for attacking Israelis, are actually causing a major disruption to a vital economic interest for thousands of Palestinian families," said David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.

On February 27, two gunmen from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades sneaked into Erez and killed a soldier before being shot dead by security personnel.

Earlier on Saturday, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, an Israeli military source said.

Local residents said he was an unarmed policeman in uniform caught up in a confrontation between soldiers and stone-throwers. The military source said he was dressed in a camouflage uniform and armed with an assault rifle.

- REUTERS