Hamas vows to retaliate to Gaza strike
GAZA, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, vowed Tuesday to avenge the killing of 14 militants in an Israeli air strike on a Gaza camp.
Hamas vowed revenge in a statement published on its Web site.
At least 14 Palestinians were killed and more than 25 were injured around midnight Monday in an airstrike carried out by Israeli Apache helicopters in eastern Gaza City.
Palestinian witnesses and security sources said Israeli Apache helicopters hovered over Gaza City and fired at least five missiles at a summer training camp belonging to Hamas in the Tufah neighborhood.
The strike came in retaliation for a twin suicide bombing attack on Israeli buses in Beersheba, which killed 16 Israelis and injured 100 others.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said retaliatory violence would not solve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
"Retaliation is not a solution to the problems that we face in the region," he said, adding the "road map" to peace in the region was one way to end the impasse.
In another incident, Israeli troops raided houses in the town of Khadra, south of Bethlehem in the West Bank Tuesday and rounded up eight Palestinians, the Palestinian News agency, WAFA, said.
Kerry trailing Bush by 7 percentage points
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A weekend poll indicates U.S. President George Bush has increased his lead over Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry by 7 points.
The USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday shows Bush at 52 percent, Kerry at 45 percent and independent candidate Ralph Nader at 1 percent among likely voters.
When all registered voters are queried, Bush had 48 percent, Kerry had 46 percent and Nader had 4 percent, bringing Bush's lead within the survey's error margin of 3.5 percent.
The telephone poll involved 1,018 adult Americans, including 778 likely voters and 926 registered voters.
Since last week's Republican convention in New York, views of whether Bush has the personality and leadership qualities to be president improved by 6 points; those of Kerry declined by 14 points, the newspaper said.
Since World War II, three contests have been within the margin of error among registered voters at Labor Day. In those races, the leading candidate won in 1980; the trailing candidate won in 1960 and 2000.
Powell pleased with Kashmir progress
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Tuesday said both India and Pakistan see Kashmir as one "issue among many" that need to be resolved by the two sides.
Powell said he spoke with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri last week before the two men met in New Delhi to discuss the issue that has dominated relations for the past five decades.
Powell said Kashmir is a very difficult issue that will take time to resolve, adding, "Both parties know that it has to be dealt with and it is part of their agenda."
India and Pakistan concluded the first round of talks with a war of words over unresolved differences on cross-border terrorism and Kashmir.
Kasuri stressed the Kashmir issue, proposing a separate mechanism to discuss the problem exclusively.
"No matter what language we use or what gloss we put on it, we know that the cause of tension between the two countries is Jammu and Kashmir," he said.
New Delhi rejected the Pakistani proposal.
U.S. Muslims condemn attack in Russia
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A U.S. Muslim advocacy group Tuesday condemned last week's attack by Islamic extremists on a school in southern Russia.
The attack killed more than 300 people, many of them children, after the terrorists seized the school in Beslan.
The Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations issued a statement saying: "No words can describe the horror and grief generated by the deaths of so many innocent people at the hands of those who dishonor the cause they espouse. We offer sincere condolences to the families of the victims and call for a swift resolution to the conflict in that troubled region that will let all people live in peace and freedom."
CAIR recently launched an online petition drive, called "Not in the Name of Islam," designed to disassociate Islam from the violent acts of some Muslims. The petition can be accessed at cair-net.org.
