Israel attacks militant target in Gaza

GAZA, Aug 4 (Reuters) An Israeli helicopter fired a missile at an Islamic Jihad target in the Gaza Strip today, the Israeli army and witnesses said.

A military spokeswoman said the strike targeted a weapons depot of the group that has been involved in dozens of suicide bomb attacks and rocket firings at Israel in recent years.

Witnesses said residents appeared to have left the building, the residence of an Islamic Jihad militant, before the missile struck the house in Beach Camp, near Gaza City. There were no reports of casualties.

Hours earlier at least one Palestinian was wounded in a separate Israeli air strike in southern Gaza.

Israeli forces killed five Palestinian gunmen and three civilians, including a 10-year-old boy, in southern Gaza yesterday, near the area where militants seized an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid on June 25.

REUTERS VJ RK0455