09 February 2004	Monday	17 Zilhaj 1424

GAZA CITY, Feb 8: Islamic Jihad warned on Sunday that it would wreak a bloody revenge for the assassination of one of its military leaders, while Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon continued to seek backing for a pullout from the territory.

On the ground, another Palestinian militant was shot dead and as many as 20 other people were wounded in exchanges of fire during an Israeli raid into southern Gaza.

"Your blood will not flow without a price being paid. Our answer will be in Tel Aviv," senior Jihad leader Abdullah al-Shami told mourners by loudspeaker in central Gaza at the funeral of his cousin Aziz al-Shami, killed by an Israeli air strike on Saturday.

"Our resistance and jihad (holy war) will continue until the end of the occupation on our land, all of the land of Palestine." As up to 3,000 flag-waving mourners filed through the centre of the city or attended the funeral service in the central mosque, dozens of masked gunmen from Jihad's military branch, the Al-Quds Brigades, fired shots into the air.

One masked member of the Brigades, also addressing the crowds by loudspeaker said that "our answer can be at any time and in any place." A 12-year-old boy was also killed in the Israeli air strike and at least nine other people wounded.

Israeli military sources said Shami was targeted because of his involvement in a major attack in 1995 that left 22 Israelis dead and had been planning an attack against Netzarim settlement, just to the south of Gaza City.

As Shami was being laid to rest, another Palestinian militant was shot dead as Israeli troops backed by helicopters raided the Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

Ashraf Abu Libdeh, a member of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), died of multiple gunshot wounds after troops had surrounded his house, medics and witnesses said. Up to 21 other Palestinians, including four children and two women, were also wounded in exchanges of fire, sources at Rafah hospital said. -AFP