Israeli helicopters strike Gaza

JERUSALEM, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- The Israeli military staged three strikes against suspected Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza on Tuesday and reported at least 10 suspects had been killed.

Military sources told IsraelNN.com that in one incident a helicopter attacked a car carrying a group suspected of recent shooting attacks on Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border.

In a second incident, an airstrike killed six men believed by the military to be Hamas militants as they rode in a pickup truck, the report said. They were suspected of launching at least four rocket attacks against Israel.

One of the men killed was a local Hamas commander and the group issued an angry statement denouncing the attack.

Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said rockets would soon be replaced with "even more dangerous weapons," the report said.

In Shechem, northeast of Tel Aviv, Israeli soldiers were ambushed before dawn. In the gunfight, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was killed, the group said.