Three Palestinians killed, 13 soldiers wounded in Karm Abu Salem attack

Saturday April 19, 2008 15:15 by George Rishmawi - IMEMc & Agencies

Three Palestinian resistance fighters were killed and at least 13 Israeli soldiers were wounded in an attack launched by Al-Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of Hamas, at the Karm Abu Salem military base south of the Gaza Strip early Saturday morning.

Kerem Shalom military post, (Photo: Palestine Monitor)

The Al-Qassam brigades called this military operation, "Warning of the Explosion," hinting at the expected mass movement to break the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip that has lasted more than 10 months.

Wounds of the Israeli troops included one "moderate to serious," two moderately, and the rest lightly injured, according to the Israeli online daily Haaretz.

The three Palestinian fighters were identified as, Ghassan Irhayyem, Ahmad Abu Suleiman and Mahmoud Abu Samra, all members of Al-Qassam brigade. The fighters used booby-trapped cars to attack the military post which they entered, accompanied by mortar shelling to distract the Israeli soldiers positioned there.  An armored vehicle penetrated the fence of the military post allowing two jeeps disguised as Israeli jeeps to enter and were detonated inside.  This military post serves as a crossing point between Gaza Strip and Israel. 

Palestinian sources told Palestine News Agency, (PNN) that the armored vehicle is American-made and was used by the Palestinian police before Hamas assumed control over the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

On Saturday afternoon, one Palestinian policeman was killed and four civilians were wounded in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza.  Few days earlier, three Israeli soldiers were killed in an ambush by Palestinian resistance groups in the same place.

gaza strip | palestinian attacks | news report george at imemc dot org