5 die in Israeli bombing
Palestinian attacker targets shopping mall Sharon orders army to strike out at militants
NETANYA, ISRAEL—
A Palestinian suicide bomber killed five people outside an Israeli shopping mall yesterday, and Israel ordered its army to attack militant leaders behind the attack.
Witnesses said the bomber smiled before blowing himself up in the coastal town of Netanya, an attack that threatened to unleash a new spiral of violence which could bury peace hopes stirred by Israel’s Gaza withdrawal in September. The militant group Islamic Jihad said it carried out the bombing to avenge Israel’s recent killings of its senior members.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approved a series of military responses to the attack, the fifth of its kind in the Jewish state since a truce was declared in February. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said the responses could begin overnight.
Security sources said it would include assassinations of Islamic Jihad leaders in the West Bank and Gaza, army raids in the West Bank and tightened restrictions on Palestinian movement in the occupied territory. Mofaz also told Army Radio he was seeking approval to resume a policy of demolishing the homes of suicide bombers, suspended by Israel after the start of the truce.
“ We will do everything we can so that attacks like these will not occur in the future,” Mofaz said. “ The helplessness of the Palestinian Authority shows that they have no real intention to fight the terror organizations.” The Netanya attack occurred as Sharon presses ahead with a re-election campaign in which he can ill afford to look soft on Palestinian militants.
It also precedes a crucial Palestinian parliamentary vote next month in which the Hamas militant group will challenge President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction for the first time.
Scrambling to save the truce from collapsing, Abbas condemned the bombing as a “ terrorist attack” and ordered forces to arrest suspects involved in it.
Palestinian police in the West Bank city of Jenin later detained an Islamic Jihad militant, sparking clashes between police and gunmen. The force of the blast in the Netanya bombing splattered blood high on the stone and glass facade of the mall. Five people were killed and more than 40 were wounded.
“ There was a boom and there was a flash. Seconds later, people were lying on the ground, some wounded and some dead,” witness Yisrael Klein told Channel Two television. “The most horrific sight was the severed head of the terrorist.” The 23- year- old Palestinian attacker was carrying a bag and was challenged by police when he tried to enter the mall, a frequent target during the fiveyearold Palestinian uprising.
“ He looked at me and smiled, a very frozen smile, and exploded,” police officer Shuki Golan told Israel Radio.
Islamic Jihad identified the attacker as Lotfi Abu Saada from Illar, a village north of the West Bank town of Tulkarem. A video released by the group showed the bomber posing with a grenade launcher and assault rifles.
Relatives described Abu Saada as a primary- school dropout who was illiterate and exploited by his handlers. “ My son is a poor soul. He doesn’t know anything about this,” said his mother, Amina.