Associated Press
JERUSALEM – Two suicide bombers detonated nail-studded explosives in a downtown Jerusalem pedestrian mall crowded with young weekend revelers Saturday. The blasts killed the assailants and 10 bystanders and wounded 150 people.
Minutes after the back-to-back suicide bombings, another bomb went off in a car parked nearby, sending panicked, screaming pedestrians running in all directions.
Eyewitness Eli Shetreet, 19, said he saw bodies being hurled in the air. “A lot of people were crying, falling, and there was the smell of burning hair,” he said.
The attacks – coming after a week in which seven Israelis were killed in other incidents – increased pressure on the Palestinian Authority to take decisive action against militant groups waging a terror campaign against Israel and caused Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to cut short a U.S. visit, according to an aide.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said it was “one of the worst (attacks) we have ever seen.”
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the militant Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups have threatened to carry out attacks in Israel to avenge the killing of Hamas’ military leader in the West Bank in an Israeli missile attack last week.
The bombs went off around 11:30 p.m. Saturday, an hour when the Ben Yehuda mall is usually crowded with young people strolling and sitting at sidewalk cafes. The bombers were standing about 30 yards from each other, police said.
“There were lots of limbs and dead bodies,” said Michael Perry, 37, who ran out of a bar along the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall after hearing the explosions. “I saw three dead and what looked like the remains of the suicide bomber. It was just a lump of something,” Perry said.
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