In an unprecedented wave of terror attacks, a suicide bomber detonated nail-studded explosives on a bus in the port city of Haifa yesterday, police said, killing himself and at least 14 people just hours after Islamic militants set off three deadly explosions in downtown Jerusalem.
The wave of attacks -- including a shooting in Gaza -- killed 26 people and injured nearly 200 in only 12 hours. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to cut short his trip to the US, moving a meeting with US President George W. Bush up to yesterday so he could leave later in the day for Israel.
The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombings in Haifa and Jerusalem. Israeli officials held Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat responsible for the attacks, saying he has done nothing to rein in militants. One Cabinet minister said Arafat should be expelled from the region.
Arafat convened an emergency meeting of his leadership, said aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh. Abu Rdeneh said the body "is about to take a very serious and urgent decision." He gave no details. Israel and the US have been demanding from Arafat a sweeping campaign against the radical groups.
The Haifa blast went off about noon yesterday.
Police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suicide bomber got on a city bus, paid the fare and within seconds detonated the explosives.
"The bus came down the hill ... and as it leveled out it blew up," witness Rachel Antebe told Israel Radio. Another witness, Yaakov Vaknin, said he heard a loud blast. "I saw people flying through the air. I heard people screaming," he said.
The front of the red-and-white bus was twisted and burned, its roof buckled upward and sides blown out. Police explosives experts wearing protective suits searched the inside of the bus, climbing over mangled seats.
Police officials said at least 14 bystanders were killed in the blast, in addition to the assailant. Police said 12 were killed in the bus and two were pedestrians who were crushed by the bus when the driver lost control. Rescue service spokesman Avi Zohar said about 40 people were wounded.
About 12 hours earlier, two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a Jerusalem pedestrian mall Saturday night, killing 10 young Israelis and wounded more than 150. Hamas and its sister group Islamic Jihad had vowed revenge against Israel's killing nine days ago of a top Hamas militant in the West Bank.
The bombs went off around 11:30pm Saturday, an hour when the Ben Yehuda mall is usually crowded with young people strolling and sitting at sidewalk cafes. The two bombers were standing about 30m from each other, police said.
The blasts were so powerful that they shattered the windows of cars parked a block away. Blood was splattered across store fronts, and bits of flesh and metal bolts from the explosives were strewn on the ground. Shortly after the suicide bombings, an explosion went off in a car parked near the mall.
Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, said that "the Palestinian people are adamant on continuation of resistance ... until the defeat of occupation, regardless of the price."
In a statement, the Palestinian Authority condemned the attacks in Jerusalem, expressing its "deep anger ... and pain" and accusing those behind it of trying to derail a US peace initiative. The Palestinian Authority has said that in recent days it has arrested several militants.
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