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11
Israelis Killed, 20 Wounded In Port Bombings
OCCUPIED
JERUSALEM, March 14 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –
Eleven Israelis were killed and 20 others wounded – some of them
seriously – by two explosions in the southern Israeli port of Ashdod
Sunday, March 14, carried out in a joint operation by the resistance
Palestinian groups Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
"It
is almost 100 percent sure that this is a double suicide attack,"
one police source said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israeli
police had found what was believed to be a bomber's belt, the source
added.
Israeli
public television said that two blasts occurred - one just outside the
port and one inside the port.
The
blasts were apparently caused by two suicide bombers.
One
of the Palestinians reportedly blew himself up just outside the main
gate to the port. The second managed to enter the highly secured
facility and detonated his bomb just a short time later in a
centrally-located workshop inside the port, according to Israeli daily
Ha’aretz.
At
least eight of the wounded were in a serious condition.
Eight
teams of Israeli firefighters reached the scene, as did a number of
police officers and Magen David Adom emergency medical workers.
Helicopters were also used to evacuate casualties, the daily added.
Casualties
of the blasts were evacuated by MDA teams to
Barzilai
Medical
Center
in
Ashkelon
,
Kaplan
Hospital
in Rehovot and
Sheba
Medical
Center
, Tel Hashomer, outside Tel Aviv.
It
was the first attack of its kind at an Israeli seaport since the
Palestinian Intifada broke out in September 2000 against the Israeli
occupation.
The
Israeli
police initially said that a fuel container had exploded in the
port and that the blast was not thought to have been the result of an
attack.
According
to Ha’aretz, Israeli security forces were sweeping the
Ashdod
port area, searching for additional explosive devices.
Tactical
Change
Commenting
on the bombings, Hamas political spokesman in
Beirut
told al-Jazeera Satellite Channel that the double attack on the port
sends a clear message to
Israel
.
“No
matter what security measures the Israelis take, we are able to reach
deeply inside their most-protected facilities. Seaports are
highly-secured in
Israel
, but that did not stop our fighters (from carrying out their
operations),” Mahmoud Nazzal said.
Asked
by al-Jazeera anchor whether these bombings were ill-timed as the
region is currently witnessing a flurry of diplomatic moves to push
the peace process, Nazzal accused Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon of
showing “no interest in reaching peace”.
“While
Sharon
talks about peace, the construction of the apartheid wall goes on (a
reference to
Israel
’s controversial separation wall in the
West Bank
), his occupation forces wreak havoc daily on our people’s heads and
destroy our homes.
“The
Palestinians will not stop their resistance unless
Israel
withdraws from our occupied lands,” Nazzal added.
Revenge
Attack
An
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades source, meanwhile, claimed joint
responsibility for the attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad military
wings, according to AFP.
The
Al-Aqsa source, speaking on condition of anonymity in a phone call to
AFP's office in Jenin, named the two bombers as Al-Aqsa member Nabil
Massud, 18, and Mohammed Salem, also 18, from Hamas' armed wing, the
Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
Both
were from the Jabilya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
A
second Al-Aqsa source told AFP's office in the northern
West Bank
town of
Nablus
that the attack was in retaliation for the killing of five Al-Aqsa
members in Jenin Wednesday.
"This
is revenge for the killings in Jenin," the source said.
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