Hamas Founder Dies in Israeli Airstrike
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By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli helicopters fired missiles at Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin as he left a mosque near his house at daybreak Monday, residents said, and witnesses said he was killed.
Witnesses said Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at Yassin and two bodyguards as they left the mosque, killing them instantly. Hamas officials confirmed that he had been killed.
A total of four people were killed and 12 were wounded in the attack, witnesses said.
Yussef Haddad, 35, a taxi driver, said he saw the missiles hit Yassin and the bodyguards.
“Their bodies were shattered,” he said.
Yassin, a quadriplegic, was by far the most senior Palestinian militant killed in more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Thousands of angry Palestinians gathered minutes after the attack, calling for revenge against Israel.
In announcing Yassin’s death, Hamas said, “(Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon has opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head.”
Ambulances and fire trucks raced to the scene with sirens wailing, and rescue workers were gathering up the shattered bodies.
Yassin founded Hamas in 1987. He was held in Israeli prisons for several years before being released in 1994.
In September 2002, Yassin escaped an Israeli missile strike on a Gaza building with a hand injury.
Yassin lived in a modest house in the rundown Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City. Israel blamed him for inspiring Hamas bombers and attackers who killed hundreds of Israelis.
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