Jerusalem, March 22
Spiritual leader of the Palestinian group Hamas Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was today killed in an Israeli air strike as he was leaving a mosque in Gaza city, setting the West Asian political cauldron on fire.

Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at the car carrying the paraplegic leader, local media quoted witnesses as saying.

The 67-year-old Yassin was killed instantly. Six bodyguards were among those killed, while at least 15 persons were wounded, reports said.

The Hamas leader was by far the most senior Palestinian militant killed in the 42 months of fighting in the region. Israel had warned on many occasions that it would target the Hamas chief after it claimed the militant group killed scores of Israelis.

It narrowly missed him in September last year when an Israeli warplane dropped a bomb on a building where he and other Hamas leaders were meeting.

Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza in protest and Hamas said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had “opened the gates of hell”.

“The battle is open and war between us and them is open. They are the killers of prophets and today they killed an Islamic symbol,” senior Hamas political leader Abdul Aziz al Rantissi was quoted as saying. Justifying today’s attack, the Israeli army said: “The Hamas leadership, led by Yassin, was directly involved in planning, directing and launching terror attacks carried out by the organisation”.

Israeli forces went on heightened alert. The Israeli army imposed a full closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip after Yassin’s killing. The police also went on alert inside Israel, fearing reprisals.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei called the attack a “dangerous, cowardly act”.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said: “The Palestinian leadership condemns the crime of assassination of the hero leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and the brothers who were assassinated with him.”