Two Israeli policemen died preventing a female suicide bomber from entering a packed Jerusalem bus shelter on Wednesday, probably saving many other lives.
The 19-year-old Palestinian woman detonated the bomb when the policeman demanded to search a bag the authorities say contained about 5kg of explosive.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
"She threw her head back and then there was an explosion," witness Debbie Segal told Army radio. "A few seconds later, her body burst into flames."
Another witness, Binyamin Miller, said: "I thought there must be many people dead because the explosion seemed so loud and then the screaming started. A lot of people were very, very lucky today."
About 20 people were wounded, including a nine year-old boy.
The Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades named the bomber as Zainab Abu Salem from a Nablus refugee camp.
Jerusalem's police chief, Ilan Franco, said that the policemen had prevented many more deaths inside the bus shelter, where more than 20 people were waiting, or would have occurred had she boarded a rush-hour bus.
"The operation of border police officers today in Jerusalem ... prevented a very big attack," he said.
Israel was braced for an attack to coincide with last week's Jewish new year and Yom Kippur tomorrow. The bombing took place in French Hill, a mostly Jewish suburb of occupied East Jerusalem, which has been a favored target for suicide bombings over the past four years of intifada.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel would hit back at the Palestinians with "all force."
"In many cases we prevent heavy disasters. Sometimes things happen like what happened today. But we intend to continue our struggle against terror with all force," he added.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski led calls for the speeding up of the construction of the Israel's barrier through the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS