JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) - A Palestinian Resistance bomber disguised as a bearded ultra-Orthodox Jew blew himself up in Jerusalem Tuesday, wounding 15 people in the context of the on-going intifadha, uprising, against Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. (Read photo caption below) A policeman who confronted the bomber just before he detonated an explosives-filled bag on his back said he died with a smile on his face.
The Jerusalem explosion occurred during the morning rush hour at around 7:45 a.m. on central Niviim Street, a block from a pizza restaurant where a Palestinian bomber killed 15 people on August 9.
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY BLAMED
Militant Islamic groups have mounted a wave of Resistance bombings since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation began last September after peace talks became deadlocked.
Commenting on the latest blast, a Palestinian cabinet minister, Ziad Abu Zayyad, said that in principle the Palestinian Authority opposed attacks that targeted civilians.
``But unfortunately it's becoming continued action and counter-action because of the current situation and because of the continued policy of Israeli occupation and assassination, killing, demolishing houses and doing all these atrocities against the Palestinian people,'' he told Reuters.
Israeli officials have often held Arafat responsible for the bombings, accusing him of failing to curb the Resistance.
The attack Tuesday followed bloodshed Monday, when four bombs exploded in Jerusalem, wounding five people. Israel retaliated for the blasts with a missile strike against a Palestinian intelligence office. Two Palestinians were killed in a gunbattle in the West Bank city of Hebron. Today's blast is in its turn a retaliation to that attack.
PHOTO CAPTION:
An Israeli policeman searches the the scene where a Palestinian Resistance bomber blew himself up in Jerusalem's center, September 4, 2001. A Palestinian bomber disguised as a bearded ultra-Orthodox Jew blew himself up, wounding 13 people in retaliation for on-going Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. REUTERS/Reinhard Krause
- Sep 04 6:34 AM ET