Some Good News

Hamas Official Killed in Syria Car Bomb
By Inal Ersan

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - An official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas was killed on Sunday when a bomb exploded in his car in Damascus, Hamas spokesmen and witnesses said.

Izz el-Deen al-Sheikh Khalil died when an explosive charge placed under the driver's seat ripped through his SUV car in the Az-Zahera neighborhood of the Syrian capital shortly after 11:30 a.m.

A spokesman for the militant Palestinian group in Gaza said the killing was "a cowardly crime by the Zionist Mossad," Israel's intelligence agency.

Israeli officials declined comment on possible Israeli involvement. "Some people lead dangerous lives," one of the Israeli officials said.

Living Dangerously

U.S. Air Attacks in Falluja Kill 15 in 24 Hours
By Fadil al-Badrani

FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. aircraft struck at the rebel Iraqi stronghold of Falluja for a third time in 24 hours, targeting a meeting of suspected militants loyal to Jordanian mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Saturday night's strike was aimed at about 10 militants meeting in the city center to plan operations, the U.S. military said. Eight people were killed and 17 wounded, Anas Ahmed, a doctor at a nearby hospital, said.

It was the third U.S.-described "precision strike" in 24 hours, raising to 15 the number of people killed and the number of wounded to 30, among them women and children, doctors said.

Just an ordinary Arab family outing gone wrong. I blame the evil Americans for working to destroy the foundations of the Arab family.

Israel Launches Strike at Gaza Refugee Camp
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli helicopter gunships destroyed a metal workshop in a Gaza Strip (news - web sites) refugee camp on Sunday, the latest attack in a cycle of violence threatening to complicate Israel's planned pullout from the territory.

The missile strike in Khan Younis against what Israeli military sources said was a facility where the militant Hamas group made mortar bombs followed a ground assault on the camp that killed an elderly Palestinian and demolished homes.

Israel launched the incursion on Saturday after a Palestinian mortar attack on a nearby Jewish settlement that killed a 24-year-old woman a day earlier.

Living conditions improved in Gaza. Industrial site in residential area removed.