A US Air Force report asserts that Israel is building a nuclear naval force and states that Israel has produced a hydrogen bomb. The number of purported Israeli nuclear weapons cited in the report is double that of previous assessments. Sponsored by the Air Force Counter-proliferation Center, the report asserts that the Israel navy can deploy any of Israel's 400 atomic and hydrogen weapons. The center is located in the Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. U.S. Army Col. Warner Farr said Israel's nuclear arsenal has grown from an estimated 13 nuclear bombs in 1967 to 400 nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. Farr said Israel's navy could deploy nuclear weapons on its three German-built Dolphin-class diesel submarines. "Israel will then have a second strike capability with nuclear cruise missiles, and this capability could well change the nuclear arms race in the Middle East," The report, which Farr said is based on unclassified sources, states that these nuclear missiles could have a range of 220 miles.

The attack [on the El Al counter at the airport] sowed panic and confusion on the first American Independence Day anniversary since the September. 11th attacks. Three people, including the gunman, were left dead and five were injured. Israeli officials said all the signs pointed to an act of terrorism, but the FBI and police said it appeared to be "an isolated incident."

The FBI identified the shooter as Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, 41, an Egyptian resident in the US since 1992. FBI sources said he was married with a child and had been living in an apartment complex in the city of Irvine, about 50 miles south of the airport. His birthday was on July 4th.

The mayor of Los Angeles, James Hahn, said on Friday that the gunman appeared to be acting alone. "We certainly don't have information yet to make him part of any conspiracy.... We think it is an isolated incident, but the matter is still under investigation."

On Thursday, the FBI was saying there was no indication of a terrorist connection in the mid-morning airport shooting. Later, FBI spokesman Matt McLaughlin told reporters that evidence so far unearthed suggested the attack could be characterized as "a hate crime" under US law. It may have been a terrorist act, "but we don't want to jump to conclusions." Hadayet was not on an FBI watch list. He was identified on the basis of information found in his car at an airport parking lot some eight hours after the attack. FBI agent Ron Iden told a news conference earlier that the assailant was carrying .45 caliber and 9mm handguns and a knife when he opened fire. Iden said he was "confronted and subdued" by two El Al security guards and a private citizen.

Israeli officials swiftly denounced the shooting, which sent screaming passengers at the world's third busiest airport diving to the floor and taking shelter behind counters. "It seems like terrorism. It looks like terrorism," Israel's Consul General in Los Angeles, Yuval Rotem, told a news conference yesterday. "The way it was conducted was very similar to previous attacks on El Al counters in European countries. Given this history we presume that it... would appear to be, a terrorist attack."

One eyewitness said the gunman seemed to deliberately target Israelis when he opened fire in an area where passengers were waiting to check in for El Al flight 106 to Tel Aviv, via Toronto. Eyewitness Hakim Hafidh described the gunman as "very, very calm" as he shot a woman behind the El Al ticket counter. He was bespectacled, clean-shaven and carried no luggage.

One of the dead was Yakov Aminov, a 46-year-old year old Jew living in Los Angeles whose wife was expecting their sixth child. The other victim was a woman in her 20s described by El Al officials as a local ground staffer. One of the El Al security guards was treated for knife wounds. An elderly woman was shot in the ankle, a man sustained injuries when he was pistol-whipped and two people suffered heart trouble. Twenty international flights were delayed after the shooting and 10,000 people had their journeys interrupted. Airport officials said flights were back to normal by midnight on Thursday.