A Palestinian suicide bomber turned a packed bus in northern Israel into a fireball yesterday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens.
Hours later, a Palestinian opened fire at an Israeli telephone truck in a Palestinian market in East Jerusalem in an attack in which three people, including the gunman, were killed, police said.
The powerful blast on a Galilee country road tore gaping holes in the sides and roof of the inter-city bus crowded with civilians and soldiers returning to base during the morning rush hour at the start of the Israeli work week.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Witnesses and rescue workers said the explosion ignited an inferno that blazed for 10 minutes before the fire brigade arrived.
"There were mangled bodies everywhere," Nissim Hozeh, a fireman, told reporters. Pieces of clothing, including army uniforms and bags littered the ground for meters.
"We can say for certain that it was a suicide bomber," Galilee police chief Yehuda Solomon told Channel One television.
In a statement issued in Gaza, the militant group Hamas said it had carried out the bombing in further revenge for an Israeli air raid on July 22 that killed its military commander Salah Shehada, his deputy and 13 other Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the bus attack, but said in a statement that Israel's policy of "mass detentions, repressive measures and home demolitions" was responsible for the cycle of violence.
The bombing flew in the face of stepped up Israeli military action in the West Bank, including the demolition of nine homes of relatives of Palestinian suicide bombers and other gunmen, action which Israel said was aimed at deterring future attacks.
The Hamas statement said a "martyr" blew up the bus, but added that the group would not release the bomber's name to ensure Israel could not punish his relatives.
"I am distressed to hear about the latest suicide bombers in Israel," US President George W. Bush told reporters in Kennebunkport, Maine, where he is spending a holiday weekend.
"There are a few killers who want to stop the peace process that we have started. We must not let them," Bush added, wagging his finger. "I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers."
Outside the Damascus Gate to East Jerusalem's Old City, police exchanged fire with a 19-year-old Palestinian who shot dead an Israeli in a telephone truck. The gunman and a Palestinian passerby were killed, police said.
"We saw somebody standing by a truck. He leaned into the window. He had a pistol," said Carl Williams, 33, on holiday from Boston. "When I saw that, I got out of here and hit the ground and immediately we heard gunshots."
Rescue workers said at least 14 people were wounded.
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant