A Palestinian suicide bomber killed 18 Israelis, including a number of schoolchildren, when he blew himself up on a rush-hour bus in Jerusalem this morning, despite frantic Israeli efforts to foil him.
Hospital officials said 48 people, including several children aged between 10 and 12, were receiving treatment. One woman had died after being admitted to hospital, and six patients were seriously hurt.
Jerusalem police chief Mr Micky Levy said large forces had been deployed in a bid to prevent an attack known to be on the way, and were still hunting for more bombers feared to be preparing to strike.
|
|
Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon looks at body bags next to an Israeli bus after a suspected Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up killing 18 people.
Photo by Yannis Behrakis/Reuters |
The rush-hour explosion at a bus stop across from an Arab neighborhood in southern Jerusalem blew the vehicle across the road and left it a charred wreck with a huge hole in its roof.
The attack was claimed on behalf of the armed wing of the radical Palestinian group Hamas by a caller who named the bomber as Mohammed al-Ghul, 23, originally from the northern West Bank refugee camp of Al-Faraa, between Nablus and Jenin.
"We deployed hundreds of policemen and a helicopter this morning," Mr Levy said. "We had no precise intelligence where the attack would occur which obliged us to disperse our forces."
But he added, "We have precise information on other planned suicide attacks in Jerusalem".
"We are seeking suspects throughout the city (and) carrying out searches with very large forces deployed to try to foil these planned attacks."
Mr Levy said several schoolchildren were among those killed on the bus traveling from the Jewish settlement of Gilo on Jerusalem's southern outskirts toward the city center.
With US President George W. Bush preparing to announce his blueprint for ending the nearly 21-month-old Palestinian uprising, Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon rejected the idea being floated to declare at least a provisional Palestinian state.
"It would be interesting to know what kind of Palestinian state they are talking about," he said.
"What we are seeing today is the continuation of Palestinian terrorism, and we must fight this terrorism and that is what we are doing."
Palestinian information minister Mr Yasser Abed Rabbo condemned the attack on behalf of President Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
"The only beneficiary of this operation is Sharon and the occupation (of Palestinian territories). Israel will use this operation to escalate its aggression against the Palestinian Authority," he said.
AFP