In two co-ordinated terror attacks perpetrated in Jerusalem and
Ashkelon, twenty-five persons were killed, this morning, Sunday.
Jerusalem suffered twenty-two fatal casualties, plus the suicide bomber,
when a charge detonated in an Egged bus. In Ashkelon, the suicide bomber
and one other person were killed in an explosion at the bus-stop near a
soldiers hitch-hiking station. Today's terror attacks were the worst
since the Oslo accords were signed, taking place precisely two years
after the killings at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
In the two attacks, eighty persons suffered injuries, and some are in
critical or serious condition. 51 such casualties were counted in
Jerusalem and 29 in Ashkelon. The fatalities evidently include the two
suicide bombers who perpetrated the attacks after arriving in Israel
from the Palestinian Autonomy. In an anonymous phone call reaching the
news editorial offices of the Voice of Israel in Arabic, the military
division of Hamas claimed responsibility for the two attacks.
Commissioner Aryeh Amit, OC Jerusalem District of the Israel Police,
estimated, based on preliminary findings collected by police
investigators in the bus chassis, that the explosive charge detonated
there this morning weighed 10 kgs., containing also nails and iron shot.
Following the two bombings, the government at its meeting today
resolved to impose a full closure on the territories. It was moreover
decided to suspend all negotiations presently in progress with the
Palestinians, until after the seven-day mourning period.
At about 06:45 this morning, a suicide bomber detonated a highly
powerful explosive charge in Egged bus No. 18 in Jerusalem, as it made
its way from the Katamon neighbourhood toward the central bus station.
The terrorist sat at the back of the bus, setting off the charge when
the bus pulled up at a traffic light at the junction of Jaffa and Sarei
Yisrael streets. The blast totally destroyed the bus, part of which went
up in flames. Another Egged bus, a No. 36, following behind, was
likewise damaged and its driver injured. Other vehicles travelling
nearby also sustained damage, and some of their drivers, including a tax
driver who was travelling alongside the bus, were injured.
The Ashkelon bombing took place a few minutes after the one in
Jerusalem, in very close proximity to a group of young people standing
on the right-hand side of the road in the direction of Yad Mordechai.
The suicide bomber was masquerading as a soldier.
Heavy police detachments arrived in short order. The Jewish Burial
Society soon had dozens of members and volunteers on the spot collecting
dismembered body parts that were scattered over a wide area. Charred
items of clothing and bits of scorched human flesh were found strewn
around, clinging to motor vehicles and to the partition fence.
27-year-old Michel Danino who was returning home from his job at
Kibbutz Gvar-Am, told his story: "I (my car) was standing at the
junction behind a line of cars, left in the direction of Ashkelon. I
was looking at a group of young women passengers standing at the
roadside, and then I saw and heard the detonation. I heard young girls
screaming. One was yelling "My legs", the other "my arms". Another girl
I saw was injured in the eyes. The passengers literally came to pieces
before my eyes. Then I heard a thud, and I turned round and saw I had a
head in my car".
Prime Minister Shimon Peres today demanded that Arafat take
exceptional measures against the Islamic Jihad and its strongholds.
Peres expects the Palestinian Authority to do more to combat
Palestinian terror. He said he had received warnings of further terror
attacks.
The Prime Minister said Israel would enlist all means of striking
at terrorism, and at its leaders and agents, and that her fate would not
be decided by terrorism. A statement published by Peres following the
attack said: "It is very hard at moments like these, there are none
harder. The heart of the nation as a whole and my own heart are with
the families of the dead and injured. I pray for the well-being and
recovery of those who were injured"