The Palestinian Jihad Islami boasted Sunday, April 15, to have already tested a two-stage missile Al Quds-3 (Qassam) with new engine and warhead and attained a range of 18 km. The extremist group claimed to have amassed sufficient stocks in the Gaza Strip to fire dozens of missiles a day for a whole year against neighboring Israeli locations. Israeli military forces confirm the Jihad Islami has been testing a new type of rocket in the last two weeks from an apparently large stock. A range of 18 km would bring the new weapon well beyond Sderot and right into the southern outskirts of the big Israeli port town of Ashdod, the town of Kiryat Gat and points north of Ofakim and Netivot. The group congratulated itself for achieving "technological autonomy" from Hamas in missile development and assembly. IDF officers believe the Jihad Islami is preparing to unveil its refurbished missile on or around Israel’s Independence celebrations in ten days. The group has begun taking delivery of a steady supply of missile components from Iran through the smuggling ports the Revolutionary Guards have established along the Gulf of Suez. Some of the parts are carried by freighter from Podgorcia in Montenegro. They are sold to Iranian agents by arms dealers and smugglers in Serbia and Bosnia. Funding for the project is laid on by Tehran and Iranian and Syrian experts supervise Jihad Islami’s missile industry. In the light of these facts, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ promises Sunday to Israeli prime minister Ehdu Olmert are totally unrealistic. Abbas undertook to take action to halt the missile fire emanating from the Gaza Strip and said he would soon deploy Palestinian security units to seal the Gaza-Sinai border against arms smuggling.