GAZA CITY Ñ The Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad announced it has begun
targeting Israeli commercial and naval shipping in the area off the coast of
the Gaza Strip. The group said it has organized suicide squads to ram boats
full explosives into Israeli naval and civilian vessels.
On late Friday, a Palestinian boat filled with explosives blew up next
to an Israeli navy patrol boat off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Four Israeli
sailors were injured and the Dabur naval vessel was slightly damaged.
Two Palestinian insurgents on the boat were killed, Middle East Newsline reported. The Islamic Jihad
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Abdullah Shami, head of the Jihad in the Gaza Strip, said the attack
over the weekend would mark the direction of the organization's insurgency
campaign. Shami termed the operation a success but denied that his
operations were inspired by the Al Qaida attack on the USS Cole in October
2000.
"We have always conducted operations in the sea," Shami said. "We are
not in contact with Al Qaida."
[On Sunday, the Israeli daily Haaretz quoted from Palestinian Authority
documents that a nitric acid plant was established in the Gaza Strip by a
Palestinian security agency. Nitric acid is a key element in the production
of TNT and other explosives.]
Israeli Naval Capt. Danny Maoz, commander of the naval base at Ashdod,
said Palestinian insurgents have increased their activities in the sea. He
said hundreds of Palestinian fishing boats operate off the coast of the Gaza
Strip.
In an unrelated development, Israel has apologized to Britain for the
shooting death of a British national who headed the United Nations refugee
agency in Jenin. Israel's military said its soldiers fired upon the Briton,
thinking he was holding a pistol. The UN official was carrying a cellular
phone.
