Palestinian militants boost rocket arsenal -Israel

JERUSALEM, Apr 28 (Reuters) Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip are bolstering their arsenal with Katyusha rockets that can strike targets well inside the Jewish state, an Israeli military official said today.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said Gaza militants had smuggled up to a few dozen of the rockets across the coastal strip's border with Egypt through underground tunnels.

Palestinian militants in Gaza have long smuggled in arms from neighbouring Egypt.

Gaza militants regularly fire makeshift rockets across the border into Israel, but the crude short-range devices are rarely deadly and often fail to make it across the border.

An increase in the use of Katyusha rockets could trigger a harsh response from Israel, which has already intensified its own artillery barrages at sites in Gaza from where homemade rockets are fired.

Abu Abdallah, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad, which has carried out dozens of anti-Israeli attacks, said the group had no Katyushas but possessed ''many'' Russian-made ''Grad'' rockets, which he said were ''better than Katyushas.'' He declined to say how many the militants had or where they had gotten them, but said it was not difficult to obtain them.

''The more the Jews escalated their aggressive military campaign against our defenceless people, the more we tried to develop our fighting techniques and the more we searched for better, longer-range rockets,'' he said.

Both Islamic Jihad and Hamas are sworn to Israel's destruction.

Israel has often targeted Palestinian militants in missile strikes in Gaza.

Last week Islamic Jihad militants said they fired a ''Grad'' rocket at the coastal city of Ashkelon. It was the second time it said such a rocket had been launched, following a similar attack in late March.

The Israeli army was not able to confirm last week's ''Grad'' firing although it said it found the debris of the first rocket fired last month which caused no casualties.

An Israeli military source said it was at least partly factory-produced, and therefore originated abroad.

Israel completed its withdrawal of Jewish settlers and troops from Gaza last September after 38 years of occupation.

REUTERS CH BD2018