In brief: Storm fears grow in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Fear and confusion swept over more than 1 million homeless Haitians on Wednesday after officials advised them to abandon tent camps in Haiti’s rubble-choked capital before Tropical Storm Tomas arrives.

Few of the earthquake survivors who have spent nearly 10 months alternately baking and soaking under plastic tarps and tents have anywhere to go.

The government says there are more than 1,000 shelters available, but the term is loose and can refer to any building expected to stand up to high winds.

“We are using radio stations to announce to people that if they don’t have a place to go, but they have friends and families, they should move into a place that is secure,” said civil protection official Nadia Lochard.

As news of Tomas’ predicted pass on Friday slowly filtered through Haiti via wind-up radios and megaphone announcements, unease set in among people who already lost homes and loved ones in the quake and saw their tents ripped apart in lesser storms this year.

“The tension is elevated, people are really concerned about their belongings. They’re posing a lot of legitimate questions,” said Bryant Castro, the American Refugee Committee staffer who manages the Corail-Cesselesse camp north of the capital.

Jerusalem – Israeli officials said Wednesday their forces killed a senior Palestinian commander from an al-Qaida-affiliated Islamist group in the Gaza Strip as he was planning a terrorist attack against Israeli and American targets in the Sinai Peninsula.

The militant, identified as Mohammed Jamal Al-Namnam, 25, was a leader of Army of Islam, a fringe group in Gaza that has claimed responsibility for recent rocket attacks against Israel and taking part in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Namnam was killed in a car explosion Wednesday outside the police headquarters of Hamas, the armed Palestinian group that controls Gaza Strip. Two other militants were injured.

Witnesses gave conflicting reports about whether the explosion was caused by a bomb inside the car or from an Israeli airstrike. Military officials would not comment on how the strike was carried out.