Haifa/Jerusalem, December 2
At least 16 persons were killed and dozens were wounded today in a suspected Palestinian suicide bombing on a bus in the northern city of Haifa, the Israeli police and medical officials said.“We are still investigating all possibilities, but the indications are that it was a suicide bomber,” Northern police commander Yaakov Borovsky told reporters. The incident occurred only hours after Palestinian suicide bombers killed 10 in Jerusalem, the police said.
The attacks, in rapid succession, marked one of the bloodiest weekends since Palestinians began an uprising against Israeli occupation more than 14 months ago. The violence threatened to wreck a new US peace mission led by envoy Anthony Zinni.
Witnesses said the explosion on an inter-city bus sent it crashing into a wall in the port city of Haifa.
Rescue workers search the scene after an explosion on a bus in the northern Israeli town of Haifa
on Sunday.
The father of Israeli soldier Nir Heftzadi, slain in a Palestinian suicide bombing, weeps and waves goodbye at his funeral in the Herzel Military cemetery
on Sunday.
Palestinian children making the sign of "V" for victory celebrate in
al-Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut
on Sunday. Palestinians housed in Lebanese refugee camps fired into the air and danced on Sunday to celebrate news of an attack by a suspected Palestinian suicide bomber.
— Reuters photos
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The police and witnesses at first said blasts had ripped through two buses but later said the explosion on one bus was so powerful that it severely damaged another parked nearby.
The bombings in Jerusalem yesterday night hurled victims and severed limbs through the air. It was one of the city’s worst attacks in years. In addition to 10 dead, at least 150 people were wounded, 17 of them critically.
Responding to the Jerusalem attack, US President George W. Bush demanded that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat bring those responsible for the attacks to justice and ‘’act swiftly and decisively against the organisations that support them”.
Planned talks in the White House between Mr Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon were brought forward today from tomorrow to enable the Premier to fly home early from the USA to tackle the crisis, US and Israeli officials said.
The police said at least 10 persons were killed in addition to the two Palestinian suicide bombers who detonated their explosives within moments of one other on a pedestrian mall.
Witnesses said the first blast shook the crowded Ben Yehuda promenade, the site of several previous attacks, just before midnight (10 pm gmt). Minutes later, a bomb exploded in a car about 50 metres away.
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Hizbollah al-Manar television said on Sunday it had received a telephone call from a Hamas spokesman claiming responsibility for yesterday’s bombings in Jerusalem.
“A Hamas spokesman just called us to announce responsibility for the Jerusalem operation,” al-Manar said.
Al-Manar did not say if the caller mentioned today’s suspected suicide bombing on a bus in Haifa which killed at least 16 persons and wounded dozens
more. Reuters
