Sharon vows non-stop fight with militants

ARIEL Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, vowed a "broad and non-stop" offensive against the militant Islamic Jihad group yesterday in retaliation for a suicide bombing.

Israeli forces raided the West Bank town of Jenin to arrest a militant leader and launched air strikes in Gaza a day after the bombing in the Israeli town of Hadera. Seven Israelis died in the deadliest attack since the Israeli pullout from Gaza last month.

An angry Mr Sharon, under attack from far-right legislators, said he would not meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas for an expected summit unless the Palestinian Authority began cracking down on militant groups. He said: "To my regret, as long as this terror continues we will not be able to move forward as we would have wished."

The offensive is expected to include air strikes, arrest raids and targeted killings of militants, with a major ground operation being a last resort.

Another tactic, used often before, is to pressure Palestinian civilians to act against militants. This began at 1am yesterday when the Israeli airforce rattled houses in Gaza with low flights.

Four air strikes in Gaza yesterday targeted fields used by militants to fire rockets, according to the army.