June 4, 2002	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 22,1423

TEL AVIV, June 3: The Israeli air force was on a state of alert on Monday amid warnings that Palestinians could use hang-gliders to carry out attacks on Israeli targets from the air, Israeli public radio said.

Concern was also raised that Palestinian groups could use ground-launched rockets to attack civil aircraft, or could even try to emulate the Sept 11 attack.

The alert for hang-glider or motorised paraglider attacks was also high on the northern border with Lebanon, where such methods have been used in the past.

The daily Yediot Aharonot said Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip had already obtained hang-gliders.

The radio also said that emergency services would practise dealing with a WTC-style attack on Tel Aviv in a drill Tuesday in Givatayim, a suburb of the coastal city, as well as training to deal with an attack using chemical or biological weapons in an underground parking lot.—AFP