Suicide bomber's house blasted

2004-09-01 08:33

Beersheva - The Israeli army on Wednesday blew up the home of one of two suicide bombers after at least 16 people died and more than 80 were wounded on two Israeli buses in the deadliest Palestinian attack in nearly a year.

Troops dynamited the two-storey home in Hebron of Ahmad Qawasmeh, 22, and were preparing to demolish the house of Nassim Jabari, also 22, according to a journalist on the scene.

Their attack in the southern town of Beersheva Tuesday, which was claimed by the Islamist group Hamas, came hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled an accelerated timetable for pulling settlers and troops out of the Gaza Strip as part of a larger project to separate Israel from the Palestinians.

"Violence must stop"

"The latest toll we have is that 16 people are dead, as well as the two bombers," a police source said.

A spokesperson for Beersheva's Soroka hospital said that 18 wounded, including three with serious injuries, were still in hospital Wednesday morning.

Police said one bomber had boarded each of the buses several moments before the explosions in the city centre.

The explosions went off shortly before 15:00 near the city hall, completely destroying one of the buses and setting ablaze the second which was just 100m away.

Police spokesperson Gil Kleiman said no specific alerts had been received prior to the blasts but that there had been "general warnings".

The double blast was the deadliest since an attack on a restaurant in the port city of Haifa on October 4 2003, which left 21 people and the female bomber dead.

The last Palestinian attack in Israel was on July 11, when a young woman soldier was killed in a blast at a bus stop just days after the International Court of Justice declared Israel's controversial West Bank barrier illegal.

Hamas said it had carried out the latest attack in response to the killing of two of its leaders in Gaza, Abdelaziz Rantissi and Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in air strikes earlier this year.

"You are mistaken if you think that the assassination of our leaders will weaken our determination to continue our struggle," said a statement addressed to Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi said it was because construction of Israel's controversial separation barrier had yet to start in the southern West Bank that the two bombers had managed to sneak into Israel.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his prime minister Ahmed Qorei both condemned the attack for targeting civilians.

There was also widespread international condemnation of the bombings.

"Violence must stop," said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "It seriously undermines all efforts to find a solution to the Middle East conflict."

- AFP