Gunmen kill seven in Israel

SEVEN Israelis died when squads of gunmen armed with heavy weapons and explosives crossed into southern Israel from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and launched a series of attacks.

The attacks lasted for about three hours. Israeli security forces tracked down some of the attackers and killed several of them in a gun battle, military spokesman Brig-Gen Yoav Mordechai said.

Three bodies were booby-trapped and Israeli TV channels said that seven attackers were killed.

There was no word on whether any attackers were captured alive. Israel almost immediately said the attackers came from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and made their way through Sinai, which borders both Israel and Gaza.

That raised the spectre of an Israeli military reprisal against the Palestinian territory.

“The incident underscores the weak Egyptian hold on Sinai and the broadening of the activities of terrorists,” said Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak.

“The real source of the terror is in Gaza and we will act against them with full force and determination.”

The attacks appeared to be coordinated, and represented one of the boldest strikes in years against Israel.

Hamas denied involvement. In Egypt, a senior security official denied that the attackers crossed into Israel from Sinai or that buses were fired at from inside Egyptian territory.