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Woman in shock at the scene of the blast. (AP)
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Ultra-orthodox ZAKA workers search for human remains (AP)
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| By Israel Insider staff and partners February 26, 2005 |
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| A policeman collects evidence (AP) |
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Descriptions of the Sabbath attack were familiar and, coming as they did on the same street and the same night of the week, there was a sense of deja vu.
"Suddenly there was this huge explosion and we just ran," said Merav Ayush, 20, who was on her way to the club when the explosion occurred. "I saw a boy and a girl sitting on the ground. At the entrance to the club there were about 15 people just lying on the floor," Ayush said from her hospital bed.
Police said the guards outside the club spotted the bomber and didn't let him in. The explosion dispersed thousands of metal shards that had been packed into the bomb, cutting down people standing nearby. The explosion ripped off the front of the nightclub, shattering windows of nearby restaurants and blackening cars.
The bodies of a young woman and the bomber lay under white plastic bags in a pool of blood and shattered glass covered the sidewalk. Three of the wounded died on their way to hospital, and 50 people were wounded, paramedics said. A neighborhood shopkeeper, who identified himself only as Shlomo, said the blast was so powerful that it knocked a row of bottles off a shelf onto his head.
Arieh Sasson, a 17-year-old New Yorker in Israel on a two-month trip, was injured: "I was at a store near the scene of the blast. There was a lot of blood," he said. Two other Americans were also taken to hospital for treatment.
The explosion occurred below the club, D.J. Yinon Cohen said. "A bleeding security guard came up to the club's second floor. "We ran down after him. There were injured people around as well as damaged cars and shattered glass."
A kiosk owner said the explosion was so loud he thought the whole building had collapsed. "All the merchandise fell off the shelves ... suddenly bleeding casualties started coming our way," he told ynet.
Two people who arrived at the club attracted the suspicion of one the nightspot's security guard, who started pursuing them, police said. One of the suspects then blew himself up, while the other one reportedly ran away.
Police remain uncertain whether the second suspect is related to the bomber, Police Chief Moshe Karadi said. "We are taking all necessary measures to confirm or refute the report," he said.
Security forces to meet, muted response expected
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz was to meet with army chiefs after the end of the Jewish Sabbath at sundown Saturday, but it appeared there would be no immediate Israeli retaliation. Gideon Ezra, the police minister, said the Palestinians must "do much more to prevent such attacks," but that contacts with the Palestinian Authority would continue.
Abbas pledged to track down those responsible for the attack, accusing them of trying to derail the peace process. "The Palestinian Authority will not stand silent in the face of this act of sabotage," Abbas said in a statement after holding an emergency meeting early Saturday with his security chiefs. "We will follow and track down those responsible and they will be punished accordingly."
There was no official claim of responsibility, but Palestinian officials and militant leaders said Hezbollah had orchestrated the attack. Asked whether Hezbollah was involved, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Saturday: "I don't know. I'm not sure."
"What we need now is action, and not words," said Gideon Meir, a senior Foreign Ministry official.
It was the first suicide bombing since the cease-fire declaration, as well as the first such attack since the death of longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Nov. 11. The last suicide bombing killed three people in a Tel Aviv market on Nov. 1.
Nightspots on the Tel Aviv promenade have been hit by suicide bombers twice before in recent years: the Dolphinarium Disco in 2001 and Mike's Place in 2003.
The AP contributed to this report.
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