plexus
27-10-02, 18:52
At least three people were killed and 15 injured Sunday morning, in a suicide attack on a gas station at the entrance to Ariel, the largest Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank. All of the fatalities are IDF reservists, and at least one was an officer.
The militant Hamas organization claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a separate incident Sunday evening, an Israeli suffered light-to-moderate wounds from shots fired at his vehicle as he was traveling between the Gaza Strip settlements of Morag and Atzmona.
Major (Res.) Tamir Massad, 41, from Kfar Masarik and First Lieutenant Matan Zogron, 22, from Itamar, were killed in the Ariel attack, Israel Radio reported. The name of the third victim has not yet been released.
Some 15 people were injured in the blast - one of them seriously - which occurred at around 11:30 A.M. A fourth body, orignally believed to be another victim of the blast, was later confirmed to be that of the bomber.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is affiliated to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsiblity for the bombing, the second in Israel in the last seven days. The terrorist was named at Mohammed A-Kashir, 19, from Nablus, who security sources said was on the IDF's list of wanted terror suspects. The sources added that A-Kashir had been missing from his home for the past month, and that IDF troops had been unable to locate him.
The bomber arrived at the gas station, and was spotted by a worker at the nearby cafeteria, who informed her boss that the man looked suspicious, Channel Two television reported.
The owner of the cafeteria and an attendant at the gas station approached the bomber, and, identifying him as a terrorist, wrestled him to the ground and held him down.
The two men then shouted "Terrorist! Terrorist!" which summoned the soldiers. The troops opened fire at the bomber, hitting him three times.
"They called on him and approached him," Rami Sonnenfeld, a police commander at the scene, told Israel Radio. "As they were trying to overpower him, the terrorist blew up and a number of people were injured."
It is still not clear if the bomber or the bullets detonated the explosive device.
As a result of the explosion, there was a small fire at the gas station, which firefighters quickly extinguished. A fire brigade official said: "The terrorist was still burning when we got there and we extinguished the fire immediately."
Yeruham Mendola, a spokesman for Magen David Adom told Israel Radio that the injured were evacuated to Beilinson Hospital, Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva; Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer and Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava.
"Once again, the vicious agenda of Palestinian terrorists has taken its toll," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office. "Like spectators, the Palestinian Authority stands by and does nothing while
Palestinian terrorists continue to wage a campaign of terror against Israeli civilians."
Ariel, some 35 kilometers north of Jerusalem, was the scene of another suicide attack in March - the first the city had known - when a bomber blew himself up in the lobby of the Eshel Hashomron hotel, injuring 14 people
The militant Hamas organization claimed responsibility for the attack.
In a separate incident Sunday evening, an Israeli suffered light-to-moderate wounds from shots fired at his vehicle as he was traveling between the Gaza Strip settlements of Morag and Atzmona.
Major (Res.) Tamir Massad, 41, from Kfar Masarik and First Lieutenant Matan Zogron, 22, from Itamar, were killed in the Ariel attack, Israel Radio reported. The name of the third victim has not yet been released.
Some 15 people were injured in the blast - one of them seriously - which occurred at around 11:30 A.M. A fourth body, orignally believed to be another victim of the blast, was later confirmed to be that of the bomber.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, which is affiliated to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsiblity for the bombing, the second in Israel in the last seven days. The terrorist was named at Mohammed A-Kashir, 19, from Nablus, who security sources said was on the IDF's list of wanted terror suspects. The sources added that A-Kashir had been missing from his home for the past month, and that IDF troops had been unable to locate him.
The bomber arrived at the gas station, and was spotted by a worker at the nearby cafeteria, who informed her boss that the man looked suspicious, Channel Two television reported.
The owner of the cafeteria and an attendant at the gas station approached the bomber, and, identifying him as a terrorist, wrestled him to the ground and held him down.
The two men then shouted "Terrorist! Terrorist!" which summoned the soldiers. The troops opened fire at the bomber, hitting him three times.
"They called on him and approached him," Rami Sonnenfeld, a police commander at the scene, told Israel Radio. "As they were trying to overpower him, the terrorist blew up and a number of people were injured."
It is still not clear if the bomber or the bullets detonated the explosive device.
As a result of the explosion, there was a small fire at the gas station, which firefighters quickly extinguished. A fire brigade official said: "The terrorist was still burning when we got there and we extinguished the fire immediately."
Yeruham Mendola, a spokesman for Magen David Adom told Israel Radio that the injured were evacuated to Beilinson Hospital, Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva; Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer and Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava.
"Once again, the vicious agenda of Palestinian terrorists has taken its toll," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office. "Like spectators, the Palestinian Authority stands by and does nothing while
Palestinian terrorists continue to wage a campaign of terror against Israeli civilians."
Ariel, some 35 kilometers north of Jerusalem, was the scene of another suicide attack in March - the first the city had known - when a bomber blew himself up in the lobby of the Eshel Hashomron hotel, injuring 14 people