Post by Salem6 on Feb 8, 2004 1:21:23 GMT
Israeli military denied Brigades' accusation it killed Abu Shoqa
Thousands of Palestinians attend local military chief's funeral killed by explosion whose cause was unknown.
By Adel Zaanoun - GAZA
Thousands of Palestinians joined the funeral on Friday of a local military leader of the Islamic militant movement Hamas, which vowed vengeance against Israel for his death in an explosion in the Gaza Strip.
An Israeli military spokeswoman denied that any Israeli soldiers were in the region at the time of the blast on Thursday at the man's home in al-Bureij refugee camp.
Medical and Palestinian security sources said Abdul Nasser Abu Shoqa, aged 37 (eds: correct), a leader of Hamas' armed wing Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, was killed by an explosion whose cause was unknown.
The Brigades accused Israel of killing him.
"The enemy assassinated Abdul Nasser Abu Shoqa. An Israeli aircraft fired a rocket at his house, fatally hitting him," it said in a statement.
"The enemy, which knows only the language of blood, will pay very dearly for its crime," it said. "We will enter their houses and destroy them over their heads. In attacking us in our houses, the enemy has shown its cowardice and that it cannot confront us on the battlefield."
Hundreds of Hamas members, clad in military uniform and brandishing Kalashnikov and M16 assault rifles, joined the thousands following the funeral cortege. Gunmen fired periodically in the air as the procession made its way from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah camp towards neighbouring al-Bureij camp where the damage to Abu Shoqa's home showed the force of the blast.
Abu Shoqa' friends and relatives paid their final respects before burial in the "martyrs" ceremony. In contrast to many funerals where the face of the corpse is left visible, that of Abu Shoqa was covered "because his body was blown to pieces by the explosion," one mourner said.
Hamas claimed the suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem on January 29 in which 11 people and the bomber died. The movement described that attack as a ripost to an Israeli army operation in Gaza the day earlier in which eight Palestinians were killed.
www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=8797