JERUSALEM: ISRAELIS BEGIN TO BURY THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS KILLED IN LATEST SUICIDE BOMBING OF A BUS

Record ID: 645605

  • Title: JERUSALEM: ISRAELIS BEGIN TO BURY THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS KILLED IN LATEST SUICIDE BOMBING OF A BUS
  • Date: 22nd November 2002
  • Summary: (EU) JERUSALEM (NOVEMBER 21, 2002) (REUTERS) MV WOMAN TAKING FLOWERS TO GRAVE
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8XG6GY9GONBRS4ZWDOBEOXRPI
  • Story Text: Israelis have begun to bury their family and friends who died when a suicide bomber blew up a bus in Jerusalem early Thursday morning.
    Hodaya Asraf, a 13-year-old girl killed in Thursday's (November 21, 2002) suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem was buried just hours after the attack.
    As the Jewish custom requires the dead to be buried immediately, family and relatives gathered in the cemetery shortly after learning of her death.
    Israeli police said the bomber boarded the bus shortly after 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and then detonated explosives strapped to his body.
    Nearly half the 49 wounded were teenagers on their way to school when the bus became an inferno of flying shrapnel, smoke and fire.
    Israeli President Moshe Katzav said the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is fighting against powers that receive encouragement from Europe.
    "The problem is that the free world, especially Europe, are trying to keep a balance between these horrible acts of terrorism and the prevention activities that the IDF is doing, and from this he (Arafat) is getting a lot of encouragement.
    In my opinion Europe, in its attitude and policy towards the Palestinian Authority has fed the terrorism in the last months in the Middle East and fuelled the perpetrators," Katzav said.
    The blast was so powerful that it splattered human flesh and blood on a white wall some 30 metres (100 feet) away.
    Police identified the bomber as a 23-year-old man from the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
    The military wing of the militant Islamic movement Hamas, which has claimed responsibility for the deaths of scores of Israelis since a Palestinian uprising began in September 2000, said it was behind the attack.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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