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Deadly explosion at funeral
14/12/2007 14:32 - (SA)
Gaza City, Gaza Strip - An explosion at a funeral procession on Friday killed three people and injured at least 30 others, as hundreds of mourners marched through Gaza City, hospital officials said.
Witnesses said gunmen were firing in the air during the funeral of a Palestinian Fatah militant, who was killed on Thursday in an Israeli airstrike. Then, a powerful explosion went off. The source of the blast was unknown and it was unclear if the device was triggered or set off accidentally.
At a nearby hospital, women wailed looking for their relatives as medics tended to the wounded.
Hamas security officials said a participant in the funeral lobbed a pipebomb at the edges of the procession, but the bomb bounced back into the procession, causing the mayhem.
Witnesses said one of the marchers was wearing a bomb around his waist, as he chanted atop one of the cars. He died in the explosion.
Gunfire and the setting off of fireworks are common forms of commemoration at Gaza funerals.
The procession was organised by Fatah militants affiliated with the dead men killed on Thursday when Israeli aircraft fire killed him and two others. The army said the men belonged to a Palestinian cell that had fired rockets at Israel.
Ahed Ebeid suffered shrapnel wounds from the explosion.
"We were surprised," he said, at a local hospital. "There were plenty of injuries. I passed out after that and don't know what happened."
- AP
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