NewsMine — war-on-terror — israel — hostilities — 2002 — 02-7-strike-july — Viewing Item

Suicide bomber { July 30 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2160869.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2160869.stm Tuesday, 30 July, 2002, 11:50 GMT 12:50 UK Jerusalem hit by suicide bomber Israelis have come under renewed attack by suspected Palestinian militants with a suicide bombing in Jerusalem and an ambush of Jewish settlers in the West Bank. The suicide bomber wounded four other people when he blew himself up outside a fast-food shop in the first such attack in Jerusalem in nearly six weeks, Israeli police said. In another incident, suspected Palestinian gunmen shot dead two Jewish settlers near Nablus, in the northern West Bank. Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian who sneaked into the West Bank settlement of Itamar near Nablus before dawn, the army said. Israel has been on a high alert since its forces killed a leading member of the militant Palestinian group Hamas in the Gaza Strip last week. Fourteen civilians - many of them children - also died in the air strike on a residential area. Hamas promised revenge attacks. Premature detonation Tuesday's explosion was the first suicide bombing in Jerusalem since a pair of attacks in mid-June killed 26 Israelis and prompted the army to occupy seven of the eight major Palestinian towns in the West Bank. Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy said the bomber entered a felafel stand on a busy street and detonated the bomb. However the device appeared to have gone off prematurely, and some reports say this is possibly why there were relatively few casualties. Most of the injured suffered from shrapnel wounds, Israeli public television said. The blast, near King George Street, occurred in one of the most heavily guarded areas of the city centre which divides traditionally Arab east Jerusalem from west Jerusalem, the Associated Press news agency said. An official in the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, David Baker, condemned the bombing, saying it was proof that the Palestinian Authority "continues to believe that terror will further its goals and this is mistaken". Israel has blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for attacks on its civilians, and accuses the Palestinian Authority of doing nothing to stop militant groups. However the Palestinians argue that Israel's military assaults on its cities and security forces have left them with little ability to prevent attack Settlers targeted Earlier on Tuesday, two settlers were shot dead in the West Bank as they drove through the Palestinian village of Jammaien. Witnesses said two masked Palestinian gunmen were lying in ambush for the settlers who, it is thought, had gone to the village to deliver diesel fuel to a factory. The army said troops were searching for the gunmen. The BBC's Claire Marshall in Jerusalem says that despite the ongoing conflict, business contacts are often maintained between individual settlers and local Palestinians. According to a statement sent to the French news agency AFP, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - an armed offshoot of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement - said it carried out the ambush. Jewish settlers have frequently been targeted by Palestinians during the 22-month intifada. Israeli settlements on occupied land are illegal under international law. In the other incident near Nablus the army said the Palestinian intruder, brandishing a knife, stabbed and injured a man and his wife before he was killed. It was the third time in two months that a Palestinian had managed to enter Itamar - which is about five kilometres (three miles) south of Nablus, close to the Balata refugee camp.

9 children attack Americans not target Gaza hamas killed { July 23 2002 } State dept cencerns { July 25 2002 } Suicide bomber { July 30 2002 } Un security criticism { July 25 2002 } University bombing Us decries strike { July 24 2002 } Files Listed: 8

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