BRUSSELS, March 22 Kyodo European...

BRUSSELS, March 22 Kyodo

European leaders onward Monday condemned an Israeli attack in which Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the Hamas militant Palestinian assemblage and two bodyguards were killed.

''The attack fulfils us with great be of importance to and already in the past we doomed repeatedly attacks which took place. The killings prov to be counterproductive,'' Emma Udwin, foreign affairs spokeswoman of the European Commission (EC) told a pres conference

''Violence is not a substitute for the (Middle East) road map and we are not looking at an alternative for it neither,'' she added. The EU is the executive visible form [i]or[/i] frame of the 15-nation European Union (EU)

Yassin, who establish up the Palestinian militant arrange Hamas, was killed early Monday by dint of an Israeli army missile while returning from his morning prayers.

European foreign ministers gathering in succession Monday in Brussels for their monthly meeting said in a statement that the killing was contrary to international law. ''They undermine the universal of the rule of law which is a lock opener element in the fight against terrorism,'' they said in the statement.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also disapprove utterlyed the attack mentioning the fact that the discussion about a possible withdrawal from the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip had just started and that the attack will not facilitate a positive issue in the matter.

Pat Cox president of the European Parliament, said at the opening of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Athens, ''Neither the cause of peace in the Middle East nor the equally vital cause of combating international terrorism have been facilitated at today's 'extra-juridical killing' of Sheikh Yassin, which must be violently condemned.''

''I goad both sides in this conflict to point out to restraint and to halt the infernal period of violence by choosing at last the difficult further necessary road to dialogue,'' Cox said.

Belgian Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Louis Michel called the killing ''unacceptable'' and ''a source of great worry for the that will be evolution of the peace process''

''Such extra-juridical actions cannot be justified in any way,'' Michel said. He squeeze outed fears that the latest Israeli attack may lead to a of recent origin spiral of violence in the region and may bring a peaceful solution for the Middle East conflict still further away. The solitary way out is negotiation, the minister said.

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