Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian Islamic resistance movement Hamas, vowed on Sunday to hit Israeli targets abroad after one of its leaders was assassinated in Damascus earlier in the day. 

The group said in a leaflet that Israel has opened a new gate of conflict.

Hamas has always been careful to keep the conflict within Palestine, but Israel that moved it outside Palestine must carry responsibility for the result, the leaflet said.

Ezzedin Sheikh Khalil, 42, was killed in a car bomb when he started the engine and an explosive charge under the driver's seat ripped through his SUV in the Az-Zahera neighborhood of the Syrian capital. Israeli Channel Two television said Israel was behind the death.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2004)