- Title: VARIOUS: Suicide bomber in Israel's Tel Aviv kills 9
- Date: 17th April 2006
- Summary: WIDE OF BUILDING WITH BROKEN WINDOWS
- Embargoed: 2nd May 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVABOB0P71HDHOQTZN0UE3K2J2IC
- Story Text: A Palestinian suicide bomber killed nine people and wounded 60 others in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Monday (April 17) in an attack a spokesman for the Islamic militant group Hamas called an act of "self-defence".
The Israeli government of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it held the new Hamas-led Palestinian Authority responsible for the bombing, which was claimed by two separate Palestinian militant groups. Olmert said he was weighing a response.
An Arab television station aired a video tape showing a baby-faced militant from Islamic Jihad, holding an assault rifle, and said he carried out the attack.
"We tell the criminal enemy that there are more martyrdom-seekers (suicide bombers), God willing," said Sami Salim Hamad, 18, from near Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
Family members said Hamad worked as a waiter in Jenin and told his employer on Sunday he would not be coming back to work.
The bombing occurred at a sandwich stand near Tel Aviv's old central bus station in the middle of the week-long Jewish holiday of Passover.
"I wanted to go to the restaurant, I was standing next to the cinema. I saw a security guard holding a young guy, asking him to open his bag, he had a blue bag. At the moment he opened the bag I heard a boom," said eyewitness Moussa Al-Zedad.
"We know, what we know right now is that the suicide bomber came near a food market and explode himself outside the market, not inside the store, we are doing now all the necessary action to catch the ones who the one who helped him to get to the centre of Tel Aviv," said a police spokesman.
Both the Islamic Jihad militant group and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, claimed responsibility.
Abbas, a moderate, condemned the bombing.
The bomber struck as Olmert was trying to form a coalition after his Kadima party won most seats in general elections late last month and three weeks after Hamas took over the Palestinian Authority following its own election win in January.
It was the first suicide bombing inside the Jewish state to kill Israelis since Olmert took over from Ariel Sharon, who was incapacitated by a massive stroke in early January.
Witnesses said they saw the male bomber.
Live television pictures showed bystanders with blood on their shirts immediately after the attack. The sandwich shop was wrecked while pools of blood lay on the ground outside. Three cars were also damaged.
Olmert said Israel would respond appropriately.
"We are now checking exactly how it happened, what happened and who is responsible for this, we will hold consultations and decide how to respond," he said.
An Olmert spokesman, Raanan Gissin, said the government held the new Palestinian Authority responsible.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the attack "a natural result of the continued Israeli crimes against our people".
"We assure our Palestinian peoples right to defend themselves and this operation (attack) is surely a natural reaction to the continued zionist crimes carried out against our Palestinian people, therefore the occupation is responsible for all these developments and escalation, we have continuously said that the occupation is who will be responsible for all the results coming stemming from their (occupations) aggression and escalation and therefore the problem is in the attackers and the Palestinian people are defending themselves and they have the right to do so using all the means available."
In a statement, President Abbas urged the "Quartet" of Middle East peace mediators -- the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union -- to intervene to prevent a spiral into violence.
A senior al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade leader in the occupied West Bank said the attack was to avenge Israeli raids in Gaza, referring to Israeli air strikes and artillery barrages against positions from where militants fire rockets into Israel.
In parts of Gaza, Islamic Jihad gunmen fired into the air and gave out sweets to celebrate the attack, witnesses said.
Hamas itself has carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings against Israelis since a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 but has largely abided by a year-old ceasefire. END - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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