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Kedumim in Samaria, about 25 miles northeast of Tel Aviv (Map: Israel Insider)
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| By israelinsider staff and partners March 31, 2006 |
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A suicide bomber exploded in a car, killing himself and four Israelis in this western Samaria community. He had disguised himself as a religious Jew and was picked up hitch-hiking. A previously unknown faction of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization claimed credit for the first successful bombing in more than three months. The murderer, 24, came from a village near Hebron. PM Olmert's office complained that the PA was doing nothing to stop attacks.
The Israeli rescue service said there were several bodies in the car, which was destroyed utterly in the blast. A rescue service official said medics could not approach the car, because it was still on fire nearly an hour after the blast. The bodies in the car were burned so badly that identification was difficult, the military said.
On Friday Israeli authorities identified the victims as Rafi and Helena Halevi, a couple in their sixties who were longtime residents of Kedumim as well as Shaked Lasker, a 16-year-old boy from Kedumim and Re'ut Feldman, a 20-year-old woman from Herzliya. Lasker and Feldman were laid to rest Friday afternoon. The Halevis are to be buried Sunday.
Rafaela Segal, who lives at the settlement, said she heard the blast from her house, from where she can see the gas station. "I saw thick smoke rising from the gas station and at first I thought the gas station was on fire," she said. "Now all the roads are closed except for the emergency vehicles. The smoke has reached my windows," she told Israel Radio more than an hour after the blast. "Security forces are searching the area."
A group from the Balata refugee camp in nearby Nablus claimed responsibility. The group called itself Kateb al-Shahid Hamuda and identified the bomber as Mahmoud Masharka, 24, from the West Bank city of Hebron. The group is a faction of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent offshoot of Fatah, which is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The last suicide bombing in the West Bank was Dec. 29 at an Israeli army checkpoint. An Israeli soldier and two Palestinians were killed in addition to the bomber.
This was the first suicide bombing claimed by a group other than Islamic Jihad since a cease-fire was declared in February 2005.
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