Israeli warplane attacks home of dead militant

An Israeli warplane today attacked the home of a senior Palestinian militant killed by Israeli troops last week.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but ambulances were rushing to the scene.

Officials with the ruling Hamas militant group said the home belonged to Mohammed Dadouh, a alleged rocket maker from the Islamic Jihad militant group who was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.

The home is next to a Hamas training base.

Hamas took control of the base when it took over Gaza last June. It was formerly used by the presidential guard, a force loyal to the rival Fatah movement that was routed in the June fighting.

The Israeli army confirmed it had carried out an airstrike, but gave no details on the target.

Earlier, Israeli troops backed by airstrikes killed five Palestinians, including two civilians, in an operation against rocket launchers in the southern Gaza Strip.

During the clashes, a Palestinian rocket fired from Gaza landed in a northern neighbourhood of the Israeli city of Ashkelon, one of the longest distances the rockets have flown. Israel Radio said the distance the rocket flew was about 10 miles.

About 120,000 people live in Ashkelon.

The Gaza fighting began after midnight when Israeli forces, including 10 tanks, raided an area east of Khan Younis, sparking exchanges of fire with Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.

When troops became trapped in a house, Israeli aircraft fired at least nine missiles. Two militants were killed and nine wounded in the airstrikes.

Later, an Israeli tank fired a shell at a house, killing three people, including an Islamic Jihad militant, his mother and 19-year-old sister, and wounding six others. Palestinian doctors reported a total of 21 injured in the clashes.

The Israeli army said the fighting was in a residential area and troops fired at militants who were shooting at them from houses. The operation was against Palestinian militants involved in launching rockets and mortars towards southern Israel.

The forces demolished one house, a chicken coop and two greenhouses in the fighting.

The fighting came days before US President George Bush arrives in the region to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Mr Bush has no plans to visit Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas. But persistent violence in the area could overshadow his visit, his first to the region as president.