- Title: GAZA/ WEST BANK/ ARAB REACTIONS TO SUICIDE BOMBING IN BEERSHEBA
- Date: 31st August 2004
- Summary: (W5)GAZA (AUGUST 31, 2004) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE VIEW OF HAMAS SPOKESMAN IN GAZA, MUSHIR AL-MASRI, SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST 0.03 2. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MUSHIR AL-MASRI, HAMAS SPOKESMAN IN GAZA, SAYING:"There is an open war between us and this aggressive enemy. There have been many previous failed attempts, but today there are operations
- Embargoed: 15th September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: GAZA, RAMULLAH, WEST BANK
- City:
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Reuters ID: LVA3YB6U9DB494AZVPI8WZ0HB2ON
- Story Text: 15 people in suicide bombings on two buses in Beersheba.
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: RESENDING WITH FULL TRANSLATION AND SCRIPT
At least 15 people were killed in presumed suicide attacks on two buses
in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Tuesday (August 31), Israeli media
sources reported.
Army Radio said two Palestinian bombers had blow up aboard the buses.
Police confirmed that the explosions were caused by bomb attacks and
Hizbollah's al-Manar television quoted Palestinian sources saying they were
suicide attacks.
Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out simultaneous suicide bomb
attacks on two Israeli buses on Tuesday, Israeli television said, quoting a
Hamas leaflet distributed in the West Bank. It said the leaflet surfaced in the
city of Hebron, some 50 km (30 miles) from the Israeli city of Beersheba.
In Gaza, Hamas militants publicly celebrated over the Beersheba attacks,
using loudspeakers to describe them as vengeance for assassinations of some of
its leaders in Israeli air strikes.
"There is an open war between us and this aggressive enemy. There have been
many previous failed attempts, but today there are operations to show the enemy
that the factions of the resistance can reach any place it wants, and it is a
lesson that the enemy should not forget after they assassinated the leaders of
the struggle, and at the helm, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi,"
Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Mushir al-Masri said.
In Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi said the
attacks were "regrettable" but added that violence as a result of Israeli
occupation had also increased.
"I think it is quite regrettable that these attacks are ongoing. It is also
time to stop the tragic loss of lives on both sides. The fact that the
occupation is still ongoing, the fact that the Palestinians are not being given
any way out, that there is increased and escalated violence by the Israeli
occupation. All this leads to further escalation in violence," Ashrawi said.
Palestinian suicide bombers have killed more than 400 people since the
start of an uprising nearly four years ago.
Suicide bombers last struck in Israel on March 14, killing 10 people at the
southern port of Ashdod.
The lull in attacks inside Israel since then has been one of the longest
since the start of the uprising.
Israeli security services have said that repeated raids on militants and
construction of a barrier in the West Bank were helping to prevent attacks,
despite efforts by Palestinian militant groups to carry them out.
- Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None