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An injured woman waits for medical attention at the scene of an explosion at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. (AP)
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| By israelinsider staff August 1, 2002 |
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An explosive device detonated inside a crowded cafeteria on the Mount Scopus campus in Jerusalem at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Seven people were killed, including two Israelis, four Americans and one person from France. At least 80 people were injured in the blast, 14 seriously.
The Israeli victims of the bombing were identified as Lavina Shapira, 53, head of the Student Authority at the University, and David Ladovsky, 29. One of the Americans killed was identified Thursday morning as Janice Colter, 37, the deputy director of the Hebrew University's foreign students department in New York.
The blast occurred at an hour when the cafeteria was crowded with students, university employees and teachers. Police officers said that they suspect a bag containing a large bomb was left on a table at the center of the cafeteria. Nails and metal scraps were included in the explosive charge to enhance the damaging effect. Police officials said that there was "inside" assistance in the laying of the bomb.
The cafeteria is one of the largest on the Mount Scopus campus, and is located near university offices. Many of the people eating lunch at the time were reportedly foreign students taking summer school classes.
"At first I thought it was a sonic boom," said university student Eli Vaknin. "A friend ran towards me and shouted, 'terror attack.' I am a medic in the army, so I ran to the scene to see what help I could give. The first thing I remember seeing was that there were many burnt people. I have seen many hard things in the army, but I will never forget what I saw today," he told ynet.
Evacuation of the wounded was difficult, due to a long distance between access roads and the cafeteria. Ambulances were unable to get close to the site of the blast. The injured were transferred to the nearby Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus; the more serious cases were sent to other Jerusalem hospitals. ynet reported that one of the injured women was considered dead, but paramedics managed to restore her pulse and she was evacuated in serious condition.
The Hebrew University is protected by a private security firm, which runs regular patrols on the campus. Even so, students have lodged complaints about the low level of security precautions. Guards are stationed only at entrances to the campus and there was no guard outside the campus where today's blast occurred. In the wake of the attack, the government is reportedly considering designating the University as an institution eligible for higher levels of official protection.
The blast occurred some minutes after Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat told American human rights advocate Rev. Jesse Jackson that he had issued a call for an end to acts of violence against civilians. After the attack, Jackson canceled a scheduled meeting with Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas.
Hamas claimed credit for the attack, and said that it was in retaliation for Israel's assassination of militant leader Salah Shehada in an air strike last week in Gaza City. The organization threatened that such attacks would continue.
David Baker, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said that "Israel is fighting a pitched battle against terror and for the right to walk down the street, take a bus or sit in a cafeteria without the fear of being decimated by Palestinian terrorism."
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that the IDF would strike Hamas "very soon." Analysts expect the attack to come early Thursday morning.
U.S. President George W. Bush, in a White House meeting, said: "I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack that took place in Israel... There are clearly killers who hate the thought of peace and, therefore, are willing to take their hatred to all kinds of places, including a university," Bush said. "And this country condemns that kind of killing, and we send our deepest sympathy to the students and their families."
The attack was the second bombing in Jerusalem in twenty-four hours. Five Israelis sustained light injuries when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a falafel stand in the center of the city Tuesday afternoon.
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