Military

DATE=03/22/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS (SHORT)

NUMBER=2-313343

BYLINE=ROSS DUNN

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

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INTRO: The spiritual leader and one of the founders of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, has been killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. Two of his bodyguards also died in the attack. Ross Dunn reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Palestinian witnesses say Israeli military helicopters fired missiles at Sheikh Yassin as he left a mosque near his home early Monday, killing him instantly.

He is the most senior leader of a militant organization to be have been assassinated by Israel since the start of a Palestinian uprising more than three years ago.

The killing of Sheikh Yassin, comes just one day after Israeli Defense Minister, Shaul Mofaz, warned that plans had been drafted to target leaders of Hamas.

Senior officials of the organization, which is listed by the U-S State Department as a terrorist organization, have vowed to avenge the death of their leader.

One Hamas official warned that Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon has, in his words, opened "the gates of hell" and placed his own life at risk.

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