Jerusalem, Sep 07: Israeli police were on a state of alert today amid fears of reprisal attacks by Hamas following an Israeli attempt to assassinate the hardline Palestinian group's spiritual leader, police sources said. Police and security service reinforcements were deployed at "sensitive" points in Jerusalem, notably at bus stops, and boosted patrols and identity checks at entrances to main towns.

The clampdown of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was also reinforced and no Palestinians were allowed across the Erez crossing between Gaza and the Jewish state, the sources said.

An Israeli Army helicopter strike in Gaza City yesterday slightly injured Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and 18 other people.
Yassin, 67, vowed that Israel and its Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would pay a "high price" as Israel said it would pursue its "relentless war" against the radical movement and other militant groups.

Yassin was speaking to reporters outside a mosque near his home in Gaza where he was given a hero's reception by some 10,000 supporters. At one stage he was carried on the shoulders of the crowd, witnesses said.

Earlier, Hamas had said that it would also avenge Israel's killing of its Nablus military chief in a gun battle on Thursday which also left an Israeli soldier dead.
Another Hamas militant died yesterday from wounds sustained in an Israeli raid in the northern Gaza Strip late last month.

Bureau Report