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Dozens
of Israelis Killed, Injured in West Bank Bus Attack
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WEST BANK, July 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – According to initial reports, seven Israelis were killed and 15 were injured Tuesday, July 16, in an organized bomb and shooting resistance attack on an Israeli bus in the northern West Bank, news agencies reported.
"We have seven dead, and around 15 injured," an Israeli spokeswoman said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israeli media, however, put the number of injuries at as many as 30, 10 of them seriously.
"There was an explosive device activated against the bus and then they started shooting," the army spokeswoman told AFP. Some of those hit were reportedly in cars near the bus.
The spokeswoman said reports indicated an exchange of fire between Palestinian resistance activists and the Israeli occupation army near the illegal Emmanuel Jewish settlement. But she could not specify whether any of the attackers or soldiers were among the casualties.
She said that before the attack took place, a curfew was reimposed in the nearby Palestinian town of Qalqilya, saying the army allegedly had information of a possible attack.
According to Israeli daily newspaper, Ha’aretz, the bus was first hit by several roadside devices, and passengers were then fired on as they left the vehicle.
Eyewitnesses said that the attackers who fired on the bus were dressed in Israeli army uniforms and escaped in the direction of Nablus.
Israeli Channel Two television said that the injured were not only from the bus, but from a vehicle that was driving ahead of it.
The bus attacked was No. 189; it was operating in conjunction with the Dan company, and was bullet-proof. It departed from the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, at around 2.15 P.M., according to Ha’aretz.
The injured were taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Tel Hashomer in Tel Aviv and Meir in Kfar Sava.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
Immanuel, a largely ultra-Orthodox settlement, is located between Nablus and Qalqilya.
This was the first deadly anti-Israeli attack by Palestinian freedom fighters in more than three weeks.
As usual, Israel immediately blamed the Palestinian Authority for the attack. "Israeli civlians continue to be the choice targets of Palestinian terrorists," said David Baker, a spokesman for the government, calling the attack "further proof that the Palestinian Authority considers terrorism a primary mode of operation."
Israel insists on branding the Palestinians’ legal right to resist occupation “terrorism”.
The Israeli army reoccupied seven of the eight West Bank cities in an attempt to crush the Palestinian resistance. The only town they left untouched was Jericho.
Hours before the attack, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stressed to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the urgent need to "end the sufferings of the Palestinian people" in a telephone conversation Tuesday.
The veteran Egyptian leader referred to "the tragic situation of the Palestinian people because of the blockade of Palestinian cities in the West Bank" and called for the lifting of curbs on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
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