Hamas renews bomb threats

THE leader of Hamas yesterday told 30,000 supporters the group will keep carrying out suicide bombings and shootings in Israel, despite talks between the Islamic militant group and Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction on suspending such attacks.

A pledge by Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin that the march of martyrs will move forward drew cheers from the crowd packed into a soccer stadium in Gaza City's Sheik Radwan neighbourhood, a Hamas stronghold.

Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz, meanwhile, told army commanders they must keep up the pressure on Palestinian militias.