posted October 08, 2004 07:37 PM              

A side view of the Hilton hotel in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba after a truck bomb sheared off a big chunk of it.

JERUSALEM, Oct 7 (Reuters) - A hotel hit by an explosion in the Egyptian resort town of Taba, near Egypt, on Thursday was on fire, part of a war was collapsed and dozens of people were lying on the ground, a witness told an Israeli radio stations.

"I heard a huge explosion. The wall near me collapsed and people began to run. There were many casualties ... The explosion was outside. When we went out we saw the shops and the internal wall of the hotel had collapsed. Some people it was a gas canister explosion and others said it was a terrorist attack. There are a lot of people (lying on the ground). There is a lot of blood, a lot of screaming," a witness called Yigal told Army radio.

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Israeli airstrike kills militant in Gaza -
06 Oct 2004

Palestinian medics rescuing four children from one family, who were injured while asleep in their home in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, when an Israeli occupation tank fired a shell at their home the night before last night.

Gaza, Oct 7 (Reuters) - An Israeli airstrike killed one Palestinian militant in northern Gaza on Friday, witnesses said, as the military continued one of its biggest and bloodiest assaults on the area in four years of conflict.

The army had no immediate comment on the attack in Jabalya refugee camp, where dozens of Palestinians have died during Israel's massive offensive, aimed at weeding out gunmen who fire rockets into Israel.
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Militants kill Bigley
Fri 8 October, 2004
http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2004/09/22/image645049x.jpg

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Militants in Iraq have beheaded British hostage Kenneth Bigley, three weeks after kidnapping him to press a demand for the release of women held by U.S.-led forces.

His brother said on Friday that Bigley had been killed, confirming earlier reports coming out of Iraq. "We can confirm that the family has now received absolute proof that Ken Bigley was executed by his captors," Phil Bigley, Ken's younger brother, said in a televised statement.

Guerrilla sources in the rebel-held city of Falluja said earlier on Friday that Bigley, who had been seized by a militant group led by alleged al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed on Thursday afternoon in Latifiya, just south-west of Baghdad.

The U.S. military says Falluja is a stronghold of the Tawhid and Jihad group headed by Zarqawi, a Jordanian who is America's main foe in Iraq. A U.S. air strike on the city, 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital killed 11 people on Friday.

A video seen by a Reuters journalist in the office of a foreign news organisation in Baghdad showed the 62-year-old engineer appearing to plead for his life as six men stood behind him. One read a statement, then cut his head off with a knife.

The scenario resembled the killings of Bigley's two American colleagues, who were killed within a week of being captured.
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WEDDING PARTY
Fri 8 October, 2004

In the latest air raid on Falluja, the U.S. military said a "precision strike" hit a house where Zarqawi associates were meeting in the north-west of the city at 1:15 a.m. (11.15 p.m. Thursday British time).

Residents and local doctors said 17 people were wounded in the attack, among them nine women and children.

They said a wedding party had been held in the house on Thursday night. The bridegroom was killed and the bride was wounded in the raid.

"We were celebrating my cousin's wedding and my relatives gathered in this house for the wedding," said one wounded survivor, Suad Mohammed, 26. "The wedding ended at 10 p.m., but some people gathered outside the house and the bombing began."

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"Religion had a triumphal return. Catholic, Protestants, Muslims and Jews - all demonstrate their love to God massacring each other."