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Eight
Israelis Killed in West Bank Bus Attack
WEST
BANK, July 16 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Eight 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.
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 re-imposed 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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