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Israeli volunteers and forensics experts remove a body from the site of a suicide bomb attack near a fast food restaurant in TA, Monday. (AP)
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In this image made from video, the Islamic Jihad identify suicide bomber Sami Salim Mohammed Hammed, from Jenin. (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners April 18, 2006 |
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| (AP) |
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A Palestinian suicide bomber struck a packed fast-food restaurant during the Jewish holiday of Passover, killing nine people and wounding dozens in the deadliest bombing in more than a year.
The Palestinian's new Hamas-led government defended the Monday attack in Tel Aviv as a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression."
Israel's U.N. ambassador warned that recent statements by the Palestinian government, Iran and Syria, including one by Hamas on Monday defending the suicide bombing, "are clear declarations of war, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully and take them at face value."
Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned that a new "axis of terror" - Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government - was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century.
"A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," he said.
The bloodshed and Hamas' hard-line stance could set the stage for harsh Israeli reprisals and endanger Hamas' efforts to secure desperately needed international aid and acceptance.
Israel said it held Hamas responsible for the attack - even though Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility - and Israel's security chiefs met Monday. They were expected to recommend stepped-up operations against Islamic Jihad, security officials said.
The attack occurred just two hours before Israel's newly elected parliament was sworn into office, and Prime Minister designate Ehud Olmert said Israel would react to the bombing with appropriate means.
In an initial response, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, causing no injuries. The army said the workshop was used by the Popular Resistance Committees militant group to manufacture homemade rockets to launch at Israel.
The European Union condemned the suicide bombing. Russia called on the Palestinian Authority to stop future attacks on Israel. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on the Palestinian government "to take a clear public stand" against such acts. And the United States warned of grave consequences for the Hamas-led government.
"Defense or sponsorship of terrorist acts by officials of the Palestinian Cabinet will have the gravest effects on relations between the Palestinian Authority and all states seeking peace in the Middle East," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
Despite the suicide bombing, Annan announced later Monday that the four key players promoting Mideast peace efforts - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia - would meet in New York on May 9 to discuss prospects for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The bombing was the first inside Israel since the Hamas Cabinet took office 2 1/2 weeks ago. Militants from Islamic Jihad, which has close ties to Israel's archenemy Iran, celebrated the attack by handing out pastries on the streets of Gaza.
The attack came amid a sharp increase in fighting between Israel and the Palestinians across the Gaza border in recent days. Militants have fired barrages of homemade rockets at Israel and Israel has responded with artillery fire. A 17-year-old Palestinian teenager in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya was killed Monday in the shelling, Palestinian officials said.
The suicide bombing occurred about 1:40 p.m. when the attacker, carrying a bag stuffed with 4.5 kilograms (10 pounds) of explosives, approached the "The Mayor's Falafel" restaurant in a busy neighborhood near Tel Aviv's old central bus station. The restaurant, which had been the target of a January bombing, was packed with Israelis on vacation during the weeklong Passover holiday.
A guard outside was checking the bomber's bag when the bomb exploded, police and witnesses said.
"Suddenly there was a boom. The whole restaurant flew in the air," said Azi Otmazgo, 35, who was inside and was wounded on his hands, foot and head.
The bomb, laced with nails and other projectiles, shattered car windshields, smashed windows of nearby buildings and blew away the restaurant's sign. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground. Police said the guard was torn in half by the blast.
The wounded were initially treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a gurney. A dazed-looking man walked near the site, his white T-shirt splattered with blood.
A man who gave his name only as Bentzi, 56, was approaching the restaurant, intending to buy a sandwich, when the bomb went off.
"Everything was a mess. Everything was blood. I saw half a body - I don't know if it was the terrorist or the guard," said Bentzi.
Police said nine civilians and the bomber were killed and dozens of others were wounded.
The attack was the deadliest since a double suicide bombing on two buses in the southern city of Beersheba Aug. 31, 2004, killed 16 people. It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. An 2002 attack at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya killed 29 people and triggered a major Israeli military offensive.
Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in recent years, has largely observed a 16-month truce with Israel. Yet in a sharp departure from previous government's immediate condemnations of such attacks, Hamas leaders defended the bombing.
"We think that this operation ... is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people," said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.
Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah party, condemned the bombing, and said he had ordered Palestinian security forces to prevent future attacks. Abbas is currently in a power struggle with Hamas and it remains unclear who is ultimately in charge of the Palestinians' fractious security forces.
"These kinds of attacks harm the Palestinian interest, and we as an authority and government must move to stop it," he said. "We will not stop pursuing anyone who carries out such attacks."
Israeli President Moshe Katsav appealed to the Palestinians to reject violence.
"I call on the Palestinians not to show weakness of spirit in the struggle for peace. We want to believe that the political path of the Hamas government is not the path of the Palestinians," he said.
Islamic Jihad identified Monday's bomber as Samer Hammad, a 21-year-old West Bank university dropout.
A video released by Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for the bombing, showed Hammad preparing to set out for the attack, dressed in black, brandishing an assault rifle and wearing a headband emblazoned with Quranic verses. Beardless, unlike many Islamic militants, and slightly-built, he looked strikingly younger than his years.
In the video, Hammad said the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. "There are many other bombers on the way," he said.
Children see mother killed in front of them
Among the dead from the Monday suicide attack were the guard, ripped in half by the blast, and a mother struck down in front of her children,
"The children screamed, 'Mom.! Mom!' but she didn't answer, she was dead already," eyewitness Israel Yaakov said, adding that the youngsters apparently suffered only slight physical injury.
The blast shattered the windshields of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground up to 25 meters (yards) from the eye of the blast and staff at the downtown Ichilov Hospital said the bomb had been packed with a large number of nails and metal bolts, to maximize the carnage.
Six of the victims died on the spot, three died later in hospitals.
A 13-year-old immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Georgia, who gave his name only as Giorgi, wanted to know which of the emergency workers was responsible for collecting body parts.
"I found some bits of flesh," he told a reporter, pointing to two pieces splattered on a parked car. "Who deals with flesh?"
The restaurant was also hit by a Jan. 19 bombing that wounded 20 people.
The restaurant owners, who were inside when Hammad blew himself up, escaped with only scratches. Customer Atef Huda, an Arab taxi driver was convinced they were spared because of their acts of charity.
"They give food, what's left, to the poor. Anyone who is poor who asks for food, they don't take money from them," Huda said. "That's why they were not injured."
AP contributed to this report.
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