Winner Sharon vows hunt

An Air force Boeing 707 landed on Friday in pouring rain at Lod Air Force Base, near Tel Aviv, with about 70 Israeli tourists, including the bodies of three who were killed in the bombing — two brothers aged 13 and 15 and a 61-year-old man.

In all, 258 Israelis were airlifted home in successive flights from Kenya, including 22 wounded who were put into ambulances bound for hospitals.

In northern Israel, relatives buried some of the six victims of violence that hit the Jewish state itself on Thursday.

Two Palestinian gunmen killed six Israelis in an attack on a Likud polling booth in the town of Beit Shean.

The two gunmen were shot dead during the attack. Meting out a punishment which is now common after such raids, Israeli troops demolished the two attackers’ family homes in the West Bank city of Jenin early on Friday.

The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack and said Fatah, its military wing, was not involved in any way.

A poll published on Thursday found that a majority of Palestinians want their forces to crack down on militants attacking Israel. A shift that coincides with unprecedented criticism from Arafat’s deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, of two years of violence.

The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, indicated that Palestinians still favour attacks against Israeli settlers and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza lands claimed by the Palestinians for their own state but that 56 per cent favour steps by the Palestinian authority to stop attacks in Israel.

Pakistanis, Somalis held for Mombasa blast

Mombasa: Kenyan police said on Friday they were holding six Pakistanis, four Somalis, a Spaniard and a US National for questioning about Thursday’s attacks on Israelis near Mombasa.

‘‘We have one American lady, one Spanish man,’’ a police spokesman in Mombasa said. ‘‘There are six Pakistanis and four Somalis,’’ he added, noting that these 10 had been arrested shortly before the attacks for entering Kenya illegally.

The spokesman said a thirteenth person, a Kenyan, had also been held but he added that the man appeared to have attracted police interest mainly because he was of Arab appearance and was out walking late at night.

‘‘I think there is a confusion about this Kenyan,’’ the spokesman said. The spokesman said the Pakistanis and Somalis had been arrested early on Thursday for entering the country illegally. He said they had been held shortly before the attacks and had then fallen under suspicion by investigators probing the attacks.

Police Commissioner Philemon Abong’O told a news conference earlier: ‘‘We feel that some of them have information which could be useful to us.’’(Reuters)