Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin Assassinated

TEL AVIV, Israel - Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot and killed as he left a pro-peace rally Saturday. Witnesses report 3 - 4 shots were fired at the Prime Minister as he left the stage after addressing the crowd. A Jewish law student was taken in to custody by police.

Prime Minister Rabin, 73 was taken to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, where he died. Foreign Minister Shimon Peres assumed leadership of the Israeli government.

The suspect, identified as Yigal Amir, a law student at Bar Ilan University who had been involved in right-wing causes was reported to have had links to the far-right group Eyal.

As news of the assassination spread, world leaders expressed outrage and despair . PLO chief Yasser Arafat, who shared the Nobel Peace prize with Rabin, expressed shock and sadness at the Saturday attack and said Rabin was a ''great leader of peace.''

From Washington, President Clinton said ''the world has lost one of its greatest men, a warrior for his nation's freedom and now a matyr for his nation's peace ... Now it falls to us, all those in Israel, throughout the Middle East and around the world who yearn for and love peace to make sure it doesn't happen."

A visibly shaken Clinton continued : " Yitzhak Rabin was my partner and my friend. I admired him and I loved him very much. Because words cannot express my true feelings, let me just say, shalom, haver - goodbye, friend. "

President Clinton will join world leaders for the funeral Monday in Israel.

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