HEBRON, West Bank Aug 31 (AFP) - The armed wing of the radical Palestinian Hamas movement on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a double suicide bombing in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva which left 15 people dead, aside from the bombers.
In a statement distributed in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said their operatives had carried out the attack to avenge Israel's assassination of its two top leaders, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdelaziz Rantissi earlier this year, and in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails.
"You are wrong if you think the assassination of our leaders is going to damage our determination to fight," the group said, addressing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz.
The double attack was also "a gift" to the new Jewish immigrants who had recently moved to Israel, it said.
The attack was initially claimed by the group in a telephone call to AFP in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
Neither the caller nor the statement gave the names of the two bombers nor said where they were from.