Suicide Bomb Attack in Tel Aviv Injures 24
Incident Comes After Israel Kills Hamas Commander
By Jason Keyser
Associated Press Writer
Friday, January 25, 2002; 6:18 AM
TEL AVIV, Israel –– A suicide bomber struck a pedestrian mall in a crowded Tel Aviv shopping area today, killing himself and wounding 24 bystanders in the explosion, including two who are in serious condition
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. However, the attack came just hours after the Islamic militant group Hamas said it would avenge the killing of a senior commander in an Israeli missile attack in the Gaza Strip late Thursday.
In today's attack, an assailant detonated explosives strapped to his body shortly after 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. EST) in a pedestrian mall near Tel Aviv's abandoned bus station, an area filled with ethnic restaurants, small groceries and sidewalk pubs catering mainly to foreign workers.
The force of the explosion overturned wooden benches at a sidewalk cafe, shattered shop windows and scattered papers across the sidewalk. Investigators searched the site with bomb-sniffing dogs and white-gloved Orthodox Jewish volunteers searched the area for human remains.
"There was an enormous explosion. People were flying in the air," said a witness, Kalman Sitton. Initial reports said the assailant drove on a motor scooter. However, witnesses later said he was leaning against a scooter belonging to one of the shopowners when he detonated the nail-studded explosives.
In all, 24 bystanders were wounded, including two who are in serious condition, police said.
Israel's government held Yasser Arafat responsible for the bomb attack, saying the Palestinian leader has done nothing to stop militants and that he condones violence against Israel.
"They (the Palestinians) are wielding a coalition of terror, where there is no difference between Arafat and his forces, and the other radical elements," said Danny Ayalon, an adviser to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
There was no immediate Palestinian comment. However, Palestinian Authority officials have accused Israel of triggering the latest round of violence – after several weeks of relative calm – by renewing targeted killings of suspected militants.
Earlier this week, Israeli commandos killed four senior members of Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, in a raid of their hideout in the West Bank town of Nablus.
Late Thursday, the Izzedine al Qassam commander in Gaza's Khan Yunis refugee camp, Bakr Hamdan, 28, was killed by two missiles fired from an Israeli helicopter at his car. Two other men were seriously injured.
About 2,000 Palestinians gathered around the burned-out shell of the car this morning, putting pictures of Hamdan and flowers on the blackened vehicle, before the start of a funeral procession. Ahmed Hamdan, a Hamas spiritual leader and relative of the dead militant, declared: "Hamas will not forget the blood of the martyrs, and Hamas will avenge every drop of his blood."
The Israeli military said Hamdan was singled out because he was responsible for "dozens of terrorist attacks carried out against Israeli civilians and soldiers in the Gaza Strip."
On Thursday, an Israeli and a Palestinian human rights group asked Israel's High Court to order Israel to stop the targeted killings. The groups said that between the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000 and the end of December 2001, Israel had admitted to killing 21 suspects. The Palestinians put the number of killings at 51.
Also late Thursday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed two armed Palestinians in Gaza, the military said. A Hamas gunman said they were trying to attack a Jewish settlement.
In 16 months of violence, 909 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 256 people have been killed on the Israeli side.
In the West Bank today, Israeli forces pulled out of Tira, a neighborhood of Ramallah, the military and witnesses said. Tanks and troops moved into Tira last week after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a Jewish celebration in the Israeli city of Hadera. Also today, Israeli forces entered the West Bank Palestinian village of Taluza and arrested two suspected Hamas activists, the military said.
© 2002 The Associated Press
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