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At
Least 12 Killed In Israeli Bus Blast
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"The
explosion occurred inside the bus, and was very powerful. There's
almost nothing left of the bus," Gershon Zoberman
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OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, March 5 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
Retaliating the Israeli killing of several Palestinians on Tuesday,
March 4, including a 85-year-old Palestinian shepherd, a Palestinian
resistance fighter blew himself up Wednesday, March 5, in a bus in the
northern Israeli town of Haifa, killing at least 12 Israelis and
wounding more than 30 others.
This
is the first bomb attack inside Israel since January 5, when two
Palestinian resistance fighters blew themselves up in central Tel
Aviv, killing 23 other people, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israeli
northern police chief Yaacob Borowsky told Israeli public radio the
blast was the work of a "suicide bomber".
"The
explosion occurred inside the bus, and was very powerful. There's
almost nothing left of the bus," Gershon Zoberman, a fire brigade
officer told public television.
"The
center of the bus lifted up into the air, the roof was torn off. It
looked like a blast inside the bus, and within seconds people began
taking the wounded out of the bus," an eyewitness told the
Israeli Channel Two private television.
Israeli
police and ambulance services rushed to the scene as the area was
cordoned off by security forces in case there were further explosives
in the area.
Doron
Keller of the Magen David Adom ambulance service said there were
"dozens of casualties," as the bomb went off in the bus
going through Haifa, which has been hit by several bombing attacks on
buses in the past.
Israeli
government spokesman Avi Pazner called the deadly blast a "very
grave attack" and said Israel would take "vigorous action
against the terrorist organizations."
He
told AFP Israeli intelligence had been dealing with at least 40
tip-offs of impending attacks when the Haifa bus was blown up.
Hamas,
Jihad Say Attack Revenge for Gaza Massacre
The
Palestinian resistance movements Hamas, Jihad stressed the bombing
attack was revenge for recent Israeli raids in Gaza which have killed
numerous civilians.
But
officials from the two main factions, which have together spearheaded
attacks in Israel, stopped short of claiming responsibility for the
bombing in the northern port city.
Abdel
Aziz al-Rantissi, a senior Hamas leader, said Wednesday's attack
"is a response to the Jewish terror that yesterday killed an
85-year-old man and the day before that a pregnant woman."
Israeli
troops on Wednesday shot dead an elderly Palestinian shepherd outside
a Jewish settlement on the edge of Gaza City, while on Monday eight
people, including a pregnant woman and a child, were killed in a raid
on a Gaza refugee camp which also netted a founder of Hamas.
"We
will not raise the white flag in front of the Zionist terror and we
will fight them as long as there is occupation," he said.
Muhammad
al-Hindi of the smaller Islamic Jihad also told AFP that Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's get-tough policy in Gaza was to blame for the
latest attack, the first successful bombing in Israel in exactly two
months.
"The
policy of Sharon is responsible for the terror in the area. Zionist
incursions targeting Palestinian civilians are responsible for all
this violence, and the blood will flow as long the violence and terror
continue.
"Our
people will fight, whoever carried this operation," he said.
Israel
Abducts 20 Palestinians, Demolishes More Houses
Israeli
troops abducted 20 Palestinians and demolished a house in the West
Bank late Tuesday, Israeli military sources said Wednesday.
In
the northern city of Nablus, Israeli troops demolished the house of an
activist from the Ezzedin al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the
Islamic Hamas movement - who was killed in 2001 in a botched car bomb
attack.
Palestinian
sources said the two-storey building housed a family of eight.
During
the morning, the Israeli army withdrew from the city's central Casbah
district following a two-day incursion, Palestinian security sources
said.
Israeli
troops had carried out house-to-house searches in the densely
populated neighborhood.
Palestinian
security sources also said Israeli special forces made a rare foray
into Ariha (Jericho), the only West Bank town not under permanent
Israeli occupation, and arrested a lawyer, who is not known for his
affiliation to any faction.
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