27 injured as bus bomber strikes in Tel Aviv
Source: Agencies |
November 22, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
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A BOMB exploded on an Israeli bus near the nation's military headquarters in Tel Aviv yesterday, wounding 27 people.
The blast delivered a major blow to diplomatic efforts to forge a truce to end a week of fighting between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers. Thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in Gaza fearing Israeli airstrikes.
Hours after the blast, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is shuttling across the region in truce talks, arrived in Cairo and met Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who is mediating between Israel and Hamas to end fighting that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis.
While Hamas did not take responsibility for the attack, it praised the bombing.
"We consider it a natural response to the occupation crimes and the ongoing massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
A tiny militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, claimed responsibility for the bus bombing but offered no evidence to back the claim. The Damascus-based group has few followers in the West Bank and Palestinian groups often claim attacks they haven't carried out.
The Tel Aviv bombing came after a night of more than 30 Israeli airstrikes over Gaza that hit government ministries, smuggling tunnels, a banker's empty villa and a Hamas-linked media office.
Some 10,000 Palestinians sought shelter in 12 UN-run schools, after Israel dropped leaflets urging residents to vacate their homes in some areas of Gaza to avoid being hit by airstrikes, a UN spokesman said.
The bus attack took place around noon on one of the coastal city's busiest arteries, near the Tel Aviv museum, the district courthouse and across from an entrance to Israel's national defense headquarters.
The blast was from a device placed inside the bus by a man who then got off, said Yitzhak Aharonovich, Israel's minister of internal security,
He said the explosion took place while the bus was moving. Blood splattered the sidewalk at the site of the explosion, with glass scattered around.
"I was sitting in the middle of the bus. We were about to pull into a station and suddenly there was a huge explosion," said Yehuda Samarano, 59, from his hospital bed where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds to his chest and leg.
"I flew from my seat. Everything became white and my ears are still ringing now."
The blast delivered a major blow to diplomatic efforts to forge a truce to end a week of fighting between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers. Thousands of Palestinians fled their homes in Gaza fearing Israeli airstrikes.
Hours after the blast, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is shuttling across the region in truce talks, arrived in Cairo and met Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who is mediating between Israel and Hamas to end fighting that has killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis.
While Hamas did not take responsibility for the attack, it praised the bombing.
"We consider it a natural response to the occupation crimes and the ongoing massacres against civilians in the Gaza Strip," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.
A tiny militant group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, claimed responsibility for the bus bombing but offered no evidence to back the claim. The Damascus-based group has few followers in the West Bank and Palestinian groups often claim attacks they haven't carried out.
The Tel Aviv bombing came after a night of more than 30 Israeli airstrikes over Gaza that hit government ministries, smuggling tunnels, a banker's empty villa and a Hamas-linked media office.
Some 10,000 Palestinians sought shelter in 12 UN-run schools, after Israel dropped leaflets urging residents to vacate their homes in some areas of Gaza to avoid being hit by airstrikes, a UN spokesman said.
The bus attack took place around noon on one of the coastal city's busiest arteries, near the Tel Aviv museum, the district courthouse and across from an entrance to Israel's national defense headquarters.
The blast was from a device placed inside the bus by a man who then got off, said Yitzhak Aharonovich, Israel's minister of internal security,
He said the explosion took place while the bus was moving. Blood splattered the sidewalk at the site of the explosion, with glass scattered around.
"I was sitting in the middle of the bus. We were about to pull into a station and suddenly there was a huge explosion," said Yehuda Samarano, 59, from his hospital bed where he was being treated for shrapnel wounds to his chest and leg.
"I flew from my seat. Everything became white and my ears are still ringing now."
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