|
|
 |
 |
 |
| Thursday, 1 May 2003 |
 |
|
 |
World | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Bomber hits Israel after Palestinian reform vote TEL AVIV, Wednesday (Reuters) A suicide bomber killed three people waiting to enter a crowded Israeli nightclub early on Wednesday, jarring U.S. plans to present a new Middle East peace plan after a landmark Palestinian vote for reform. Hours earlier, the Palestinian parliament approved a new cabinet under reformist Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, but Palestinian militants swore to defy his agenda of curbing attacks on Israelis to lay the groundwork for negotiations. Israeli police and medics said three people were killed along with the bomber and 49 wounded in the early morning attack at "Mike's Place - Blues by the Beach" in Tel Aviv, near the back entrance to the U.S. embassy. Blood and body parts smeared the smashed club entrance. The bomber's coat hung from beams over the door with a hand sticking out of one sleeve and one of his severed legs lay on the step. Police said the bomber detonated his hidden load after trying in vain to push past a security guard into the club. "The place was crowded with young people for a jazz and blues night," said Israeli national police spokesman Gil Kleiman. "The security guard prevented a huge catastrophe. I saw people running away in flames, some without skin. It was shocking. Mike's is more of a tourist place," a woman witness who was in a pub next door told Israeli television. Most of the scores of Palestinian suicide attacks in 31 months of militant violence against Israel have occurred in daytime. The latest assault seemed like a bid to unhinge Abbas's negotiating agenda before it got off the ground. Washington condemned the suicide attack but said it would not scuttle plans by the international peacemaking Quartet to present the long-awaited peace "road map" now that the new cabinet is in place. But the bombing promised to throw a cloud over the planned swearing-in on Wednesday of Abbas's cabinet in the West Bank city of Ramallah as it raised the threat of a fierce Israeli military response deep into Palestinian areas as in the past. Violence also recurred in the West Bank late on Tuesday night when Jewish settlers shot dead two Palestinian gunmen who tried to infiltrate their small outpost, military sources said. Israel said the violence heightened the onus on the revamped Palestinian leadership to make good on promises to rein in militants, who Abbas said had created "armed chaos" damaging Palestinian hopes of winning international blessing for a state. "This vicious attack in Tel Aviv serves as a brutal reminder that the Palestinians are continuing with their blood-stained trail of terror," said David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office. "The new Palestinian government must realise that fighting terror must top their agenda, that this bloodletting against Israeli citizens must stop now," Baker told Reuters. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
