pigua be yerushalayim

Ishah, Dienstag, 19. August 2003, 23:33 (vor 7771 Tagen)

http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/331198.html

JERUSALEM - A suicide bomber blew himself up on a
bus packed with ultra-Orthodox Jews on Tuesday,
killing 20 people, including at least three
children, and wounding about 100 in one of the
deadliest bombings in the past three years of
fighting.

The militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad both
claimed responsibility. Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas condemned the bombing as a "terrible
act."

The bombing threatened to derail the U.S.-backed
"road map" peace plan. In a first move, Israel
called off the planned handover of the West Bank
towns of Jericho and Qalqiliya to Palestinian
control. The handover was to have taken place
later this week.

The blast went off shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday,
as the crowded tandem bus — which has two
passenger sections — drove along a main
thoroughfare in Jerusalem and another bus pulled
in front of it, witnesses said.

The attack followed a deadly explosion set off by
a suicide bomber outside the hotel housing the
U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. A government
spokesman said there was no known direct link
between the two bombings, although he said the
motivations were similar.

"It is motivated by extremist Islamist militants
who don´t accept the legitimacy of the West or of
Israel," government spokesman Dore Gold said.

Several children also were among the wounded in
Jerusalem.

"It was the No. 2 bus that came from the Western
Wall," said a motorist, Jacob Bitnovsky. "I heard
a huge blast and when I turned around I saw parts
of the bus flying everywhere. I got out of the car
and ran. There was a lot of smoke and running, saw
a child on the ground gasping for air."

The bus had started out at the Western Wall,
Judaism´s holiest shrine, and was headed to an
ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.

One report said among the passengers were members
of a family who had celebrated a Bar Mitzvah, the
Jewish rite of passage into adulthood for boys, at
the Western Wall.

A second bus passing nearby when the explosion
went off was also badly damaged, with windows
blown out. Rescuers had to use blow torches to get
out some of the wounded.

"What is clear is that it was a very big bomb,"
said Jerusalem fire chief Amnon Amir.

Shocked survivors, including several crying
children with blood-smeared faces, were led away
from the scene. A paramedic cradled a little girl
in his arms, and two others led away an elderly
woman.

Paramedics treated wounded on the sidewalk, and
body parts were strewn about.

Police spokesman Gil Kleiman, Israel Army Radio
and rescue service workers put the number of dead
at 20. Israeli officials don´t include the bomber
in the death toll. Fourteen of the wounded were in
critical condition.

In Washington, the White House deplored the
bombing and offered sympathies to the victims and
their families.

"We condemn this vicious act of terrorism," said
Sean McCormack, a spokesman on national security
issues. "We call on the Palestinian Authority
(news - web sites) to dismantle terrorism."

Gold, the Israeli government spokesman, said
Israel was paying the price for the Palestinian
Authority´s inability to rein in militants.

"Israel will have to protect it´s population," he
said, saying Israeli leaders had yet to decide on
their response.

The explosion went off as Abbas was meeting with
Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites)
to persuade them to halt attacks on Israelis.
Abbas said he has asked Palestinian security
forces to investigate.

Palestinian militants declared a unilateral truce
on June 29, but have said they would continue
taking revenge for Israeli killings of their
operatives.

Last week, Islamic Jihad threatened attacks on
Israelis to avenge the killing of a senior
operative, Mohammed Sidr, in an Israeli arrest
raid in the West Bank city of Hebron.

In a phone call to The Associated Press, Islamic
Jihad claimed responsibility for Tuesday´s
bombing, saying it was in revenge for the killing
of Sidr, whom Israel has accused of plotting a
series of attacks.

Later Tuesday, Hamas distributed fliers in Hebron,
saying the Jerusalem bombing was carried out by
one of its supporters, identified as Raed
Abdel-Hamed Mesk, 29.

In the Gaza Strip, a Hamas leader, Abdel Aziz
Rantisi, insisted Hamas was not involved. "We are
committed to the truce. I don´t know who carried
out this action," Rantisi said.