Palestinian kills four Israelis in suicide bombing
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 25, 2003
BNEI BRAK, Israel — A Palestinian detonated explosives at a bus stop in this Tel Aviv suburb Thursday night, killing himself and four Israelis in the first suicide bombing inside Israel in nearly three months. Ten minutes earlier, Israeli helicopter gunships fired at a car in Gaza City and killed six people, including a senior Islamic Jihad official, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials.
The Christmas Day violence punctuated a two-week period in which Israeli military forces have accelerated incursions in the Palestinian territories, Egyptian officials resumed efforts to negotiate a cease-fire among armed Palestinian groups, and Israeli and Palestinian officials were trying to arrange the long-delayed first official meeting between their prime ministers.
Israeli officials said that despite an appearance of calm in the country over the past few months, Palestinians had attempted several attacks during that period that were foiled by Israeli security forces. The assassination in Gaza on Thursday of Mokled Humaid, Islamic Jihad’s military leader, was ordered, officials said, because he was helping to plan a massive attack to be conducted inside Israel. Military officials refused to specify any details of that planned attack.
Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinian Authority, lamented the renewed violence and called for renewed efforts to revive peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, which have been stalled for months.
The attack in Bnei Brak occurred at 6:20 p.m., when a suicide bomber casually strode into the midst of a group of people near one of several bus stops at a major highway interchange east of Tel Aviv according to witnesses and Israeli police officials. The assailant, who one witness said was carrying a small bag and wearing a dark coat, exploded a bomb packed with metal fragments.
Three uniformed Israeli soldiers — two women and one man — and an Israeli civilian woman died from injuries sustained in the explosion, police and hospital officials said. Fifteen people, including at least one Palestinian, were hospitalized after being wounded, according to hospital officials.
