Haifa killer a woman

2003-10-04 17:54

Haifa - A suicide attack on a busy Arab-Israeli restaurant in this northern Israeli city killed at least 17 people Saturday as well as the female bomber on the eve of the Yom Kippur holiday.

"We confirm that 17 people were killed (apart from the bomber) and at least 51 injured," national police spokesperson Gil Kleiman said.

"Apparently the bomber was a woman," he added.

Dozens of ambulances were at the scene, just metres from a popular beach, and shocked onlookers stood by.

Some dead could be still seen on the floor of the upmarket restaurant owned by an Arab-Israeli family and popular as a venue for family gatherings. Its windows were blown out by the blast.

A number of children were reported among the dead in the attack, which occurred at about 14:20 (12:20 GMT) on the Sabbath and the day before Yom Kippur, a day of fasting and the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Israel had cordoned off the Palestinian territories ahead of the holiday.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Israel said the Palestinian Authority must take responsibility because of its failure to dismantle what it terms "the terrorist infrastructure" of groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

The Haifa blast was the first suicide attack in Israel since twin bombings by Hamas near Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem on September 9, which left 15 people dead, as well as the bombers.

'Removal' of Arafat

Two days later the Israeli security cabinet approved the "removal" of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah, with one minister later suggesting that Arafat might be assassinated.

An Israeli minister said after the Haifa attack that Israel ought now carry out its decision to get rid of Arafat.

"The criminal attack today is certainly the occasion to carry out the decision of the cabinet and remove Arafat," said Health Minister Dany Naveh.

"It is clear to all of us that this individual is the major obstacle to better days ... we must carry out this decision," he added.

David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, also said the attack "illustrates once again that the Palestinian Authority totally refuses to dismantle terrorist organisations in the sectors it controls."

'Stop targeting civilians'

But Palestinian prime minister-designate Ahmed Qorei condemned the attack and urged all Palestinian groups to stop targeting civilians.

Qorei said: "We ask all Palestinian factions, national and Islamic, to immediately stop these operations targeting civilians which have a negative impact on the Palestinian cause."

But he also called on the Israeli government to halt its confiscation of Palestinian land.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erakat also condemned the attack and demanded immediate international action to prevent a further escalation in violence.

"The Palestinian National Authority condemns this kind of attack in Haifa," Erakat said.

"We demand that the United States and the quartet intervene immediately to stop a further escalation and keep the roadmap on the table," he said, referring to a Middle East peace plan drafted by a quartet of diplomatic powers - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

- AFP