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Arab attack kills Israelis, defies Abbas peace bid

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian militants set off a large truck bomb as gunmen stormed an Israeli base at a vital Gaza crossing Thursday, killing five Israelis and wounding five in an attack that defied peace efforts by new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The assault, in which three Palestinian attackers were also killed, was by far the biggest since Abbas won an election Sunday to succeed Yasser Arafat as head of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade were among the groups that claimed responsibility for the bombing, which took place just before 11 p.m. at the Karni crossing into the Gaza Strip.

The militants entered the crossing in a bomb-laden truck minutes before it was to close, the military said. They blew a hole in the security wall between the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the crossing, and at least two gunmen attacked the Israelis.

One report said they blew themselves up, but another said they opened fire and were killed by Israeli soldiers.

Early today, Israeli helicopters fired three missiles at a building in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza used by Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Israeli military and Palestinian security officials said. One person was slightly wounded.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher flew out of South Africa on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to charges relating to a coup attempt in the small, oil-rich African country of Equatorial Guinea.

Mark Thatcher, a businessman, denied any knowledge of the coup against President Teodoro Obiang Nguema. He could still face problems if Equatorial Guinea seeks his extradition. He was fined 3-million rand, about U.S. $500,000, and given a four-year suspended sentence. Thatcher is expected to rejoin his wife, Texas-born Diane Bergdof, and two children in the United States.

HAITI VIOLENCE: U.N. peacekeepers fired tear gas into a crowd at a food distribution site in northern Haiti on Thursday after people started throwing rocks at troops, a U.N. official said. At least 30 people were treated for gas inhalation and skin irritation in flood-ravaged Gonaives, said Dan Moskaluk, a spokesman for U.N. police in Haiti. It was unclear why the crowd attacked the Argentine troops.