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Tens of thousands of Palestinians have taken part in the funeral of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the assassinated founder of the militant group Hamas.

The paraplegic cleric, who Israel says masterminded suicide bombings, was targeted by helicopter gunships in Gaza after leaving dawn prayers at a mosque.

His death sparked calls for revenge by Hamas and condemnations from abroad.

Israel had warned often that it would target the Hamas founder after his group killed scores of Israelis.

In September, Israeli forces narrowly missed him after firing on a house where he had been having lunch with fellow Hamas members a short while earlier.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the attack on Monday, saying it was against international law and did nothing to further the Middle East peace process.

Sheikh Yassin is by far the most significant militant figure to have been killed by Israel in the three years of the intifada and the country is on high alert in expectation of a violent response.

The 67-year-old was leaving a mosque in Gaza's Sabra district in his wheelchair with an entourage when they were attacked by Israeli helicopter gunships.

Two bodyguards and one of Sheikh Yassin's sons were reported to be among the seven people killed. At least 15 people were wounded.

At the funeral procession in Gaza City, mourners jostled to touch the sheikh's coffin, which was draped in a green Hamas flag.

Gunmen wearing Hamas headbands fired shots in the air.

Vatican condemns killing of Hamas founder
March 22, 2004 17:20

The Vatican has added its voice to international condemnation of the killing of the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

The Holy See said the Israeli helicopter strike on the 67-year-old, who used a wheelchair, could not be justified in any state of law.

Sheikh Yassin was killed along with seven other Palestinians in a pre-dawn strike near a mosque.

The Israeli Army said Yassin was responsible for numerous terror attacks which had killed foreign and Israeli civilians. The armed wing of Hamas has said it wants to kill hundreds of Israelis in revenge attacks.

Hamas has said Israel has opened the gates of hell.

Thousands of Palestinians have been demonstrating in Gaza City following the killing.

Sheikh Yassin's assassination has been condemned by Britain and France, as well as the Palestinian Authority and many Arab countries.

Straw says killing was 'unlawful'

Speaking in Brussels before a meeting to discuss counter-terrorism, Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw described the killing as unlawful and unjustified.

The EU's Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana, said the killing was very bad news for the Middle East peace process.

However, speaking at a news conference in Jerusalem, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, congratulated his country's security forces and said the war on terrorism would continue.

Meanwhile, the United States strongly denied any involvement in the assassination.

The White House National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, said the US did not have advance warning of the assassination.

Following the Sheikh's killing, there were reports of a bomb attack at the Israel/Gaza border crossing at Erez.

In another incident, it was reported that a Palestinian journalist was shot dead by Israeli troops in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Nablus while covering protests.

Goh held a meeting with representatives of civic groups and urged them to refrain from holding more street rallies to take account of the national interest, Goh's spokesman told Reuters.

"Civic activists have already had their stance on the impeachment fully heard," Goh said in a statement. "Protracted street rallies would only have a negative impact on economic recovery and the country's credit rating."

Sunday, more than 100,000 people held a peaceful candlelight rally in Seoul, the eighth consecutive day of protest gatherings since parliament thrust the country into uncharted territory on March 12 by ousting Roh for breaking an election law. Smaller rallies were held in dozens of smaller cities and towns.

The Constitutional Court has six months to decide whether to uphold the vote, during which time Prime Minister Goh is acting president.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's top Shi'ite cleric has urged the United Nations not to endorse the country's interim constitution, his office said Monday, raising a potentially grave obstacle to U.S. plans to hand power to Iraqis on July 1.

Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani told senior U.N. official Lakhdar Brahimi in a letter that unless the United Nations rejects the constitution, he would boycott a U.N. team expected to visit Iraq soon to advise on forming an interim government.

Another threat to any orderly transition is the violence that has convulsed Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion a year ago.

Two visiting Finnish businessmen were shot dead as they drove through a tunnel in Baghdad Monday in the latest of a spate of attacks on foreigners. Finnish broadcaster YLE said they were killed on their way to the Electricity Ministry.

Separately, an Iraqi security guard was shot dead and three wounded in the northern city of Mosul as they walked to work, Iraqi security officials said. A civilian was also wounded.

A suicide car bomb wounded eight members of the paramilitary Iraqi Civil Defense Corps outside a U.S. military base north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. Only the bomber was killed.

In other violence, 13 British soldiers were wounded in blasts in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the British army said. None of the injuries was thought to be life-threatening.

The U.S. military also said a roadside bomb had killed a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi interpreter while they were on patrol west of Baghdad Sunday. Three U.S. soldiers were wounded.

The soldier's death raised to 396 the number of U.S. troops killed in action since the start of the war. Insurgents have killed a much higher number of Iraqi police and paramilitaries.

In the town of Balad, north of Baghdad, the local police chief was assassinated Sunday, a U.S. army spokesman said. He said an Iraqi judge had been murdered in Hilla, south of Baghdad, the previous day.

As U.S.-led forces struggle with the insurgency, Washington has pushed ahead with plans to return sovereignty to Iraq in 10 weeks' time, under a transitional law signed by the U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council earlier this month.