NewsMine — war-on-terror — israel — hostilities — 2003 — 03-nov-dec — mob-related-tel-aviv-blast — Viewing Item

Police call it criminal attack { December 11 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/international/middleeast/11CND-MIDE.html http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/11/international/middleeast/11CND-MIDE.html December 11, 2003 Bomb Kills 2 in Tel Aviv, but Police Call It 'Criminal Attack' By GREG MYRE and CHRISTINE HAUSER TEL AVIV, Dec. 11 — Explosives placed on an awning over the entrance to a currency exchange shop here killed 3 people and wounded 19 today in what the Israeli police labeled a purely criminal matter. The bomb attack took place on a day when as many as six Palestinians were killed in an Israeli Army raid in the Gaza Strip, but the police in Tel Aviv said the blast here did not appear to be linked to the more than three years of violence associated with the latest Palestinian uprising. "We are treating this as a criminal attack," said a police spokesman, Gil Kleiman, describing the bomb's apparent target, Zeev Rosenstein, as an "underworld figure." Mr. Rosenstein and his bodyguard were wounded in the blast, which officials estimated was caused by two pounds of explosives. Hundreds of onlookers crowded behind police tape to gaze at the scene of shattered windows and downed awnings of neighboring first-floor shops. Mr. Kleiman said the explosion represented the sixth known attempt on Mr. Rosenstein's life. Previous attempts have included a bomb placed in front of his office, a car bomb exploding near him, and shootings. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces raided the southern refugee camp of Rafah, using attack helicopters and opening fire on houses with heavy machine guns, according to a statement on the Web site of the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA. Six Palestinians were killed in the raid, the director of Rafah Hospital, Ali Moussa, said by telephone. An Israeli Army spokesman said Israel's forces were operating on the outskirts of Rafah to try to arrest a senior figure in the militant group Islamic Jihad who they said was responsible for attacks and weapons smuggling. The spokesman said that Palestinian gunmen had opened fire with antitank weapons and that Israeli forces had returned fire, killing three gunmen from the militant group Hamas. The discrepancy in the death totals — six by the Palestinian account, three by the Israeli account — could not immediately be reconciled. The clash comes less than a week after the Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, met with Palestinian militants in Cairo to try to reach consensus on calling a truce with Israel. The talks ended without agreement. Greg Myre reported from Tel Aviv, and Christine Hauser reported from New York.

Israeli criminals suspected for blast Mob related bombing kills 3 Police call it criminal attack { December 11 2003 } Tel aviv blast aimed alleged mob figure Files Listed: 4

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