Palestinian car bomb explodes
2004-06-15 12:45
Gaza City - A car bomb exploded on Tuesday after being fired on by Israeli soldiers as the vehicle approached a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the abortive attack near the settlement of Netzarim, south of Gaza City.
Palestinian sources said that at least one person who was travelling in the vehicle had managed to flee before it exploded but was later arrested by the Palestinian security services. Witnesses said that only one person appeared to be in the vehicle.
Huge columns of smoke could be seen after the explosion, the witnesses added.
An Israeli military source said that troops had opened fire "on a suspect vehicle which was approaching the Netzarim junction".
"The vehicle exploded," he added.
The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a radical offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility.
Two members of the organisation were killed in an Israeli helicopter strike on Monday night in the West Bank town of Nablus.
- AFP