Israeli military: Aircraft strike Gaza gunmen

[August 24, 2011]  JERUSALEM (AP) -- Violence along the Gaza-Israel border heated up on Wednesday, with Israeli airstrikes on militant targets and militant rocket fire at Israel.

Israeli media reported that security forces sent down reinforcements to the area. A music festival that was to be held in the southern city of Ashkelon was canceled, conforming with military recommendations against large gatherings in tense security times, the military said.

Israeli aircraft killed a militant from Gaza's Islamic Jihad faction before dawn on Wednesday, Hamas security officials said. They later targeted two militants who had fired two mortars at Israel shortly before. No casualties were reported in that airstrike.

The Israeli military said the dead militant had smuggled weapons into Gaza and was involved in militant activity in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, near Israel's southern border. It did not elaborate.

A militant incursion into Israel from Sinai last week killed eight Israelis. That was followed by Palestinian rocket attacks and Israeli airstrikes that have not stopped despite a cease-fire reached on Sunday.

[Associated Press]

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