(CNN) -- Hamas on Thursday claimed responsibility for shooting a missile that struck an Israeli bus, critically wounding a teenage boy on his way home from school.
After not claiming responsibility for the attack earlier in the day, Hamas on Thursday night sent a message to reporters saying the strike was in retaliation for the killing of three Hamas leaders last weekend.
After the attack Thursday, and the firing of numerous mortars into Israel, the Israel Defense Forces "targeted nine terror-activity sites in the Gaza Strip," the IDF said in a statement.
Hamas said five people were killed and 45 were wounded. One of the dead was Saleh Tarbin, a field commander for Hamas, the group said.
The school bus was traveling in southern Israel near the Gaza border when it was hit by an anti-tank missile, Israeli authorities said.
A 13-year-old boy was the only passenger on the bus at the time, said Avital Leibovitch, spokeswoman for the IDF.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/04/07/israel.gaza.violence/