At least 8 killed at Israeli seminary

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'Act of terror and depravity'
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday condemned the attack, calling it an "act of terror and depravity."

Rice said she spoke with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to express U.S. condolences to the people of Israel and the families of the victims of the Thursday night attack against rabbinical students in Jerusalem.

"The United States condemns tonight's act of terror and depravity," Rice said in a statement. "This barbarous act has no place among civilized peoples and shocks the conscience of all peace loving nations. There is no cause that could ever justify this action."

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In Gaza, Palestinians poured into the streets to celebrate, firing rifles in the air.

“We bless the (Jerusalem) operation. It will not be the last,” Hamas said in a text message sent to reporters.

"This is God's vengeance," blared a loudspeaker in a Gaza City mosque.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television said a previously unknown group called the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza claimed responsibility for the attack. Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah commander, was killed Feb. 12 by a car bomb in Syria. Hezbollah blamed his assassination on Israel, which denied any role.

Peace talks threatened
The attack in Jerusalem came a day after Rice persuaded moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to peace talks with Israel and on the same day Egyptian officials were trying to mediate a truce between Gaza militants and Israel.

Abbas suspended the talks after Israel launched a military offensive against Gaza militants barraging southern Israel with rockets. Palestinian officials say more than 120 were killed in Gaza during the weeklong operation. Four Israelis were also killed.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben Ruby said the gunmen was wearing what at first appeared to be an explosives vest but turned out to be a belt holding extra ammunition.

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Carnage in Jerusalem
March 6: MSNBC's Savannah Guthrie reports on the killings at a Jewish school near Jerusalem.
MSNBC
Hundreds of police surrounded the area and searched the campus as ambulances raced to the scene. Scores of seminary students spilled out onto the sidewalk and street outside after they were evacuated.

The seminary is in the Kiryat Moshe quarter of Jerusalem, a well-known center of Jewish studies identified with the leadership of the Jewish settlement movement in the West Bank.

The school was founded in 1924 as a center of Religious Zionism, and today is one of the biggest centers of Jewish studies in Israel.

There were no attacks by Palestinian militants in Jerusalem during 2007, though police and the military claimed to have foiled many attempts. Between 2001 and 2004, at the height of Palestinian-Israeli fighting, Jerusalem was a frequent target of Palestinian attacks, including suicide bombings on buses.

Palestinians killed in airstrike
In a separate development, an Israeli airstrike killed four Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the Islamic Jihad militant group and the Israeli army said.

The Islamic Jihad said four of its members were killed in the missile strike near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. It said they were planting an explosive device to target Israeli army patrols.

An Israeli army spokesman said the attack was aimed at a number of gunmen who were planting explosives in the same area an Israeli soldier was killed earlier on Thursday.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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