http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/...sin/index.html
CNN) -- Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed in an Israeli airstrike Monday morning as he was leaving a mosque, Hamas and Palestinian security sources told CNN.
Six others were killed in the strike, sources said. Sixteen people were wounded in the attack, including two of Yassin's sons; seven of the wounded were in critical condition, hospital spokesmen said.
Palestinian security sources told CNN that Yassin's car and vehicles carrying his bodyguards were hit by three rockets as he was leaving a mosque after morning prayers. He was heading to his home, a short distance away.
Thousands of Palestinians marched and chanted in the streets of Gaza City soon after the attack.
Black smoke rose over sections of Gaza City, and explosions could be heard. Hamas gunmen fired weapons into the air, promising revenge against Israel.
"We condemn the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin," the Palestinian Authority said in a statement. "It is a crime. It's a cowardly act. It shows that Israel has chosen the path of more violence and further escalation."
An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said: "This morning, in a security forces operation in the Northern Gaza Strip, the IDF targeted a car carrying the head of the Hamas terror organization, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and his aides.
"Yassin, responsible for numerous murderous terror attacks, resulting in the deaths of many civilians, both Israeli and foreign, was killed in the attack. The Hamas leadership, led by Yassin, was directly involved in planning, directing and launching terror attacks carried out by the organization.
"The Hamas leadership is also responsible for the cooperation with the other terror organizations. Following the attack, a complete closure was imposed on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank."
The Palestinian militant group Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a nationalist military offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, promised to wage war against Israel and attack Israeli settlements.
Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli troops protecting the Khan Yunis settlement in southern Gaza, Israeli officials said.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat deplored Yassin's killing as part of a "vicious cycle."
"I think the whole situation is going down the drain," Erakat said. "I think any time you have such things as the crime this morning, this will mean that things will be slipping outside our fingers like sand."
He called on the international community to step in and revive the peace process.
"Where do we go with this vicious cycle?" Erakat asked. "Bullets will breed bullets. Violence will breed violence.
"It's more of the same. We break this vicious cycle only through reviving hope in the minds of people that peace is doable."
Hamas scheduled Yassin's funeral for 12:30 p.m. (5:30 a.m. ET) Monday, with the body to leave al Shefaa hospital at 11 a.m. (4 a.m. ET).
