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Israel air strikes kill 4 militants
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-15 08:57

Israeli missiles fired from the air ripped apart two cars in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing four Palestinian militants and wounding five other people, including an Islamic Jihad spokesman, the military and Palestinians said.

The strikes came as the Palestinians' ruling Fatah Party slipped into disarray. Young activists split away and formed their own party for Jan. 25 parliamentary elections, rejecting attempts by old-timers to keep control of the party that has ruled Palestinian politics for decades.

Palestinians gather around the wreckage of a car after it was hit in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Wednesday Dec. 14, 2005.
Palestinians gather around the wreckage of a car after it was hit in an Israeli missile strike in Gaza City, Wednesday Dec. 14, 2005.[AP]
But aides to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said he still hoped to avert the split.

In marked contrast to Fatah's chaos, the Islamic Hamas group unveiled a neatly chosen slate of parliamentary candidates, naming a well-known pragmatist to head the list in an apparent effort to woo mainstream Palestinians. The Fatah split, an embarrassment to Abbas, also was likely to help Hamas.

The airstrikes in eastern Gaza City were Israel's third and fourth since it renewed the practice of targeting militants following a deadly suicide bombing in Israel on Dec. 5. Altogether, seven militants have been killed.

The Israeli missile set off explosives in the car, the military said, blasting it to pieces. Israeli army footage filmed by a drone aircraft showed a huge column of black smoke leaping from the stricken vehicle.

Israel said the militants, from the Popular Resistance Committees, were on their way to attack the Karni cargo crossing, a vital lifeline for Palestinian imports and exports.

A Popular Resistance spokesman who goes by the name of Abu Saed vowed revenge.

"The blood shed by the Zionists will not be shed in vain," he said. "We will retaliate and send them the message that Palestinian sacrifice does not come cheap."

The group was behind several deadly attacks against Israelis in Gaza, and some link PRC with an October 2003 bombing that killed three U.S. Marine guards in a U.S. embassy convoy in Gaza.
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