Hamas admits shooting Israeli worker

JERUSALEM, March 19 (UPI) -- The armed wing of Hamas Monday claimed responsibility for the sniper shooting of an Israeli electrical worker near the border with the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian faction said the attack was retaliation for Israel's "crimes in the West Bank," the Jerusalem Post reported.

Kobi Ohion, 42, an employee of Israel Electric Corporation, was shot and wounded on the Israeli side of the border, north of the Karni commercial crossing, the International Herald Tribune reported.

The group said it also fired two mortar shells across the border, the newspaper said.

The attacks, which occurred just days after the formation of the Palestinian unity government, were the first since a truck was struck in November.

"This terror attack is precisely what the new Palestinian government refuses to condemn, thus rejecting the conditions placed upon it by the international community," said David Baker, an official in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

The attack follows statements by new Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh that promised continued "resistance" against Israel and support for "all forms of resistance" from the new unity government.