Israel assassinates Hamas militant

A car bomb killed a leader of the Hamas militant group in Damascus today.

In Israel, security officials acknowledged the Jewish state was involved in the assassination.

Police at the scene of al-Zahraa district explosion were seen retrieving pieces of the body of Izz Eldine Subhi Sheik Khalil.

In Israel, the government issued no statement, but security officials quickly acknowledged Israeli involvement in Khalil’s assassination. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

The explosion took place at 10.45am (7.45am Irish time), the Palestine media centre in Damascus told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

A member of the Hamas political bureau, Mohammed Nazzal, told AP in Cairo that a bomb had been planted in Khalil’s car and it exploded as he tried to start it.

Nazzal accused Israel of assassinating Khalil, 42, who used to work for Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel expelled Khalil from Gaza in 1992 along with a large group of Palestinians who spent weeks in the no-man’s land between Israel and Lebanon as Lebanon initially refused to accept the deportees in protest against their expulsion.

In the Shajaiyeh neighbourhood in Gaza, people converged on the Khalil family home to pay their condolences.

Rafik Khalil blamed Israel for his brother’s death and called Izz Eldine a “martyr.”

Khalil’s death was quickly reported on Israeli television as well as on the official Hamas website.

Israeli government officials have said that they would target Hamas leaders and that even leaders of the group outside the Palestinian territories would not be safe.

Hamas is one of the most active Palestinian groups that oppose the interim peace accords with Israel and has been responsible for numerous suicide bombings in the Jewish state.