A suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem yesterday, killing at least 10 bystanders and wounding about 30 in an attack outside Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence, police and paramedics said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The explosion coincided with a German-brokered prisoner swap between Israel and the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah. It was not clear whether there was a connection.
The attack also came a day after Israeli troops killed eight Palestinians in the deadliest raid in the Gaza Strip in more than a month.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the main groups behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis, vowed revenge for the raid in Gaza City, saying five of their fighters were among those killed in fierce gun battles. Medics said the other dead were civilians, but Israel said all were armed "terrorists."
"The bloody message has been received ... and the Palestinian people will know how to respond to it," Mohammed al-Hindi, a leader of Islamic Jihad, said.
Two Israeli tanks and several armored bulldozers moved early on Wednesday out of the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, a frequent flashpoint, witnesses said.
Gun battles erupted with dozens of militants in Gaza's Zeitoun neighborhood. Troops shot dead four gunmen from Islamic Jihad including two field commanders and one fighter from Hamas before pulling back, the groups said.
Among the bystanders killed was a 17-year-old, medics said.
But the Israeli commander in charge of the operation told Army Radio: "I can say with certainty that everyone who was killed was a terrorist, armed with a weapon."
The bodies of five militants draped in Islamic Jihad black flags and one body draped in a green Hamas flag were buried as about 5,000 people marched in the cortege. Gunmen fired in the air and threatened revenge.
Yesterday's bomb went off just before 9am in the Rehavia district in downtown Jerusalem, just 15m from Sharon's official residence. Sharon was at his farm in southern Israel at the time, his aides said.
Bret Stephens, editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post, said he heard the boom and ran to the scene.
"There was glass everywhere, human remains everywhere, shoes, feet, pieces of guts. There were pieces of body everywhere," he said.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS