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A terrorist attack: Israel

JERUSALEM JULY 5. Israel is assuming that an attack at Los Angeles airport at the El Al Israel Airlines counter was a terrorist attack until proved otherwise, an Israeli Cabinet Minister said on Friday, even as police in Egypt questioned the father and the wife of the slain assailant, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet (41).

El Al, Israel's national carrier, stepped up its security worldwide recently, the airline said, but had no specific threats to operations in Los Angeles, where a gunman killed two people before being shot dead.

The airline did not say how recently security had been increased, but said security checks of passengers, air crew and El Al planes worldwide were now more stringent.

Amos Shapira, director-general of El Al, wouldn't go into security specifics, but said the moves were made ``in accordance with information that we got from our sources and from, of course, the American authorities.''

El Al is widely regarded as the best protected airline in the world, a reputation gained through strict security measures implemented by what has also been considered the most-threatened airline. Its formidable security includes armed guards at check-in, sky marshals and extensive searches of luggage. Passengers are told to arrive three hours ahead of flights to make time for the security checks.

After the attacker was identified by the FBI as Egyptian-born Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, from Irvine, California, the Israeli Transport Minister, Ephraim Sneh, said on Friday, ``We are going to assume that it's a terror attack until proven otherwise.''

In another incident, an El Al pilot flying over Ukraine reported seeing a missile fired from the ground, officials said on Friday. They said the missile exploded a few miles away from the plane. Mr. Sneh said he talked to the pilot and concluded, ``We can gather this wasn't a missile intentionally aimed an El Al plane.''

The Ukrainian Government said the military had not fired a missile. ``At that time there was no military training with shooting in Ukraine,'' the Defence Ministry spokesman, Kostiantyn Khivrenko, said.

Plane crash

Meanwhile, in California, a pilot, co-pilot and two people on the ground were killed when a small plane crashed into a park where hundreds of people were barbecuing and celebrating the Fourth of July. Twelve people were injured, authorities said.

An official said the crash ``sounds completely like an accident''.

— AP

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