HAMAS SAID TO EXPAND WARHEAD ON KASSAM-1 TEL AVIV Ñ A Palestinian insurgency group is said to have expanded its warhead payload on a new short-range rocket and deployed the weapon in the West Bank.

Hamas is said to be developing a new version of its Kassam-1 short-range rocket. Israeli intelligence sources said the new model Kassam-1 will continue to have a range of five kilometers, that of the original model. But the updated version will have a large warhead.

The Palestinian group first deployed the Kassam-1 in attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip in October. Nobody was hurt in the attack. Hamas is also developing a longer-range Kassam-2 rocket. Kassam-2, the intelligence sources said, will have a range of between six and 10 kilometers.

The sources said this will allow Hamas to strike the outskirts of Ashkelon from positions in the northern Gaza Strip. They said Hamas and other Palestinian groups seek to attain the capability of Hizbullah, which is said to have nearly 10,000 short- and medium-range rockets in southern Lebanon.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned the Palestinians against using the Kassam-2. He told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that any such missile launch would result in unspecified Israeli retaliation.

Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz said the Palestinians have deployed the Kassam-2 rocket into the West Bank. Mofaz did not say how many rockets are believed in the West Bank but said they will probably be used in attacks on Israeli cities and airports.

"I told the Americans that the Palestinians have developed the Kassam-2, which they are smuggling from Gaza to the West Bank," Mofaz said on Tuesday upon his return from the United States. "Though the rockets are primarily manufactured in Gaza, they are trying to start manufacturing them in the West Bank. And I think we all know what the ramifications of that will be: Kassam-2s in the territories, along with rockets from Hizbullah as well as Iraqi involvement."

In a related development, Israeli troops and tanks launched an incursion into the West Bank city of Nablus on Tuesday. Palestinian sources reported heavy resistance against the Israeli troops and said four Palestinian Hamas members were killed, three of whom were leaders in the military wing of Hamas.

On Tuesday afternoon, Hamas members clashed with Palestinian security forces in Nablus to protest the continued detention of Hamas members in Palestinian Authority prisons. Four Palestinians were injured in the clashes.

It was the second Israeli incursion in two days into Palestinian-controlled cities in the West Bank. On Monday, Israeli troops and tanks captured the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm. On Tuesday morning, Israeli troops withdrew from the city but continued to surround the outskirts.

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