TEL AVIV Ñ An Israeli city has come under a Palestinian rocket
attack.
Israeli officials said the southwestern city of Sderot was struck by
three Kassam-class short-range rockets on late Wednesday. The officials said
they believe Palestinian gunners fired the new Kassam-3 rockets.
Witnesses said the rockets slammed into a pharmaceutical plant. Four
people were said to have been injured.
It was the second attack of the Kassam-3 rocket over the last two weeks.
The rocket is said to have a range of 10 kilometers and was developed by the
Hamas movement. The range of the rocket allows Palestinian gunners to target
Israeli cities near the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, an Israeli armored force backed by helicopters entered the
Gaza Strip and destroyed facilities said to have produced the Kassam rocket.
An Israeli military spokesman said 13 machines found in a weapons laboratory
were demolished amid what he termed "moderate resistance" by Palestinian
forces. He said that over the last three weeks Israeli forces have located
more than 70 workshops used to produce mortars and rockets in the Gaza
Strip.
In another development, Israeli forces killed a suspected Palestinian
insurgent on the outskirts of a Jewish settlement in the northern Gaza Strip
on Thursday. Later, Israeli security sources said a Palestinian was arrested
in Jerusalem on his way to carry out a suicide bombing.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the Palestinian Authority and its
Islamic allies have been planning to escalate the two-year war with Israel
in an attempt to divert international attention from Iraq. Sharon said the
Palestinian effort is being coordinated with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
