Originally published Sunday, January 13, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Gaza gunmen attack, loot private American school

Gunmen smashed windows, burned buses and looted computers belonging to a private American school in Gaza on Saturday, an attack officials...

By Ibrahim Barzak

The Associated Press

BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip — Gunmen smashed windows, burned buses and looted computers belonging to a private American school in Gaza on Saturday, an attack officials believed was linked to President Bush's visit to the West Bank earlier this week.

A group claiming affiliation with al-Qaida left leaflets around the school that were signed "Army of Believers, the al-Qaida Branch on the Land of Palestine."

There is no evidence that al-Qaida has been operating in Gaza, but many Islamic extremists in the area have adopted the group's language and style recently. The attack on the American International School was the second in 48 hours. On Thursday, just before Bush arrived in the West Bank, gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the school. The school has been repeatedly targeted by vandals in the past.

Principal Ribhi Salim said the school would not close.

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