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Us convey bombed in gaza 3 killed Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/350191.htmlhttp://www.haaretz.co.il/hasen/spages/350191.html
Last Update: 15/10/2003 13:55
U.S. convoy bombed in Gaza; at least 3 people killed
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies
A massive bomb demolished an armor-plated jeep in a
convoy carrying U.S. diplomats and CIA personnel
in the Gaza Strip Wednesday, killing at least
three people and moderately wounding one.
U.S. embassy sources confirmed that Americans were among the
casualties, but did not elaborate. Sky News later
reported that all the dead were American. There was no
independent confirmation of the Sky report.
There was no immediate claim of
responsibility for the incident, the first
deadly attack on an official American target in
the three years of the intifada. Three months
ago, a roadside bomb was detonated beside an
American convoy traveling in the same area, but
without injury, Israel Radio reported.
The American officials were headed Wednesday to
discuss the awarding of study grants to Gaza
Palestinians.
The victims of the blast were security men hired
from a private company, not U.S. government
officials. Israel Radio reported that one of
the victims was identified as an East Jerusalem
resident who was the driver of the vehicle.
The blast went off around 10:15 A.M. Wednesday
as a three-car U.S. diplomatic convoy drove
near a gas station on the outskirts of the town
of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip,
along the main north-south road.
Witnesses at the scene said a silver Cherokee
jeep used by American diplomats was completely
destroyed by the blast. Parts of the vehicle
were strewn in a 30-meter radius around a
crater created by the explosion.
The explosion tore the car in half and left the
wreckage twisted with the
tires up in the air. The pavenment was stained
with blood and littered with bits of flesh.
An AP reporter saw a gray wire with an on-off
switch leading from the scene of the attack to
a small concrete room at the side of the road.
Soon after after the blast, the IDF sent tanks
and armored vehicles under cover of a
helicopter gunship into the northern Gaza areas
of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lehiya to aid the
Americans in evacuating the wounded man and the
bodies of the victims.
An IDF rescue helicopter evacuated the wounded
man to Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva.
Israeli military sources said that it remained
unclear whether the explosion had been a
roadside bomb or if a suicide bomber had caused
the blast.
Later in the day, American security officials
investigating the bomb attack left the scene
abruptly after Palestinian youths threw stones
and rocks at them. The investigators were
taking pictures of the bloodied, twisted
remains of the van when half a dozen kids threw
stones and rocks at them as about 200
Palestinians looked on.
Palestinian police fired in the air to chase
away the stone throwers, and U.S. officials
rushed into their cars and sped off.
Palestinian police beat some people in the
crowd, while pushing the spectators back.
The IDF said the targeted jeep was the middle
vehicle of the convoy, which carried security
men and CIA personnel. A Palestinian security
van had preceded the convoy's three
armor-plated vehicles.
The American embassy in Tel Aviv said that
contrary to initial reports, U.S. special
Middle East envoy John Wolf was not in the
convoy. Wolf is responsible for monitoring
compliance with the road map peace plan.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to have paid a
visit later in the day to U.S. Ambassador
Daniel Kurtzer's sukkah, but the bombing forced
cancellation of the meeting.
Near the site of the bombing, Mohammed Radwan, a
Palestinian taxi driver, said he was at a
nearby gas station when the blast went off. "I
was about to fill up my car with gas when I saw
the American convoy passing," Radwan said.
"There was a Palestinian police car in front
and then three big (U.S.) cars. When the third
one passed, an explosion went off."
"The first two cars drove quickly and stopped
far form the explosion.
Palestinian security people jumped out of the
car and rushed to the car that had blown up.
When I tried to approach them, they shouted at
me to leave. I saw two people covered with
blood lying next to the car."
The body of one of the Americans was taken to
Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
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