Reuters, December 27, 2007
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli air strikes killed at least six militants in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including a senior member of the Islamic Jihad, medics and officials from the militant group said.
The officials identified the man killed as Mohammad Abu Murshud, head of Islamic Jihad's armed wing in the central Gaza Strip. An additional militant had been wounded in the attack, the officials said.
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed there had been an air strike in the central Gaza Strip, but did not say who had been targeted in the attack.
At least five other militants were killed earlier and nine were wounded in Israeli air and ground attacks in the central Gaza Strip and near the southern town of Khan Younis, medical staff in the Hamas-controlled territory said.
An official for the Islamic Jihad said that two of its members had been killed and another was wounded. Three bystanders were also wounded.
The Israeli army spokesman said the strikes targeted both a vehicle carrying explosives and militants traveling to "execute a terror attack", and a group of gunmen who had launched a rocket propelled grenade at a military vehicle.
Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in June when it routed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's forces, said two of the dead were Hamas militants, the third was identified as belonging to Islamic Jihad.
Abu Ahmed, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad armed wing said they "received the message (the enemy) sent us. It was a message of blood and our message will also get to the enemy and it will also be a message of blood."
The Jewish state carries out frequent air strikes and raids in the Gaza Strip to try to stop militants from firing rockets at southern Israeli towns.
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Ori Lewis and Avida Landau
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