Palestinian security chief killed in rocket attack

The Palestinian government’s security chief, a key player in rocket attacks on Israel, was killed late yesterday in an Israeli air strike that threatened to escalate clashes between the two sides into a far fiercer conflict.

The militantly anti-Israel Hamas government called Jamal Abu Samhadana’s assassination a direct assault on the Palestinian Authority, and vowed to continue its resistance against the Jewish state. Abu Samhadana’s Popular Resistance Committees faction vowed revenge.