Skip to main content /WORLD
CNN.com /WORLD
*
EDITIONS:

MULTIMEDIA:

E-MAIL:
Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists.
Enter your address:

SERVICES:
CNN Mobile

CNN WEB SITES:
CNN Websites

DISCUSSION:

SITE INFO:

CNN NETWORKS:
CNN International

TIME INC. SITES:

WEB SERVICES:

Car bomb in West Bank refugee camp kills 1

image
Scenes from Hadera, in central Israel, where witnesses said a vehicle pulled next to a bus and then exploded  
  


JERUSALEM (CNN) -- A car carrying members of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement exploded in a West Bank refugee camp Friday evening, killing one person and injuring three others.

Two of those in the care were critically injured, and three passers-by were also hurt in the bombing, the Palestine Red Crescent said.

Palestinian security sources said three Fatah members and one Popular Front member were in the car at the time. It was unclear which of them was killed.

The sources blamed Israel for targeting the car, which exploded in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus. Palestinian police were investigating the blast.

An Israel Defense Forces spokesman denied Israel was involved. Israeli security sources called the blast a "work accident," a term used by Israel to describe an explosion that happens to people in the process of carrying out a terror act.

 RESOURCES
Full text of the Mitchell Committee's report (from the Meridian International Center website)

Requires Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™
Click here to download the reader.
 
  MESSAGE BOARD
 
  ALSO
U.S. envoy to meet with Arafat on Mideast violence

 

Two suicide bombings

The explosion happened just hours after two vehicle bombings carried out by Islamic militants. Islamic Jihad and Hamas each claimed responsibility for one of those bombings. Another bomb, in Gaza, was defused.

More than 40 people were injured by a car bomb that exploded in the central Israeli town of Hadera, Israeli medical services said. Among the injured were a 10-year-old boy and a 7-month-old baby. Israeli police said two men in the car packed with explosives died in the blast.

Witnesses said the car pulled up next to a bus and then exploded. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for that explosion, saying the blast was to mark the anniversary of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Earlier in the day, a truck filled with explosives blew up in Gaza near an Israeli military outpost at Netzarim Junction, according the IDF. The driver of the truck was killed, but military authorities said no soldiers were injured in the blast.

Hamas claimed responsibility for that bomb.

Israel vows no retaliation

Despite the bombings, Israel said it will keep in place what it calls its "unilateral" ceasefire, declared after the release this week of the Mitchell Committee report. An Israeli spokesman said there will be no retaliatory strikes such as those that have followed previous bombings.

"We lean toward waiting a few more days to give the Palestinian Authority the opportunity to order a cease-fire," Sharon said. "They are behind the terror attacks. They have to order an end to the terror attacks."

bomb scene
Israeli police investigators collect evidence at the site of the car bomb explosion  

A senior aide to Arafat said the Palestinian Authority condemns the killings of all civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli, but added a true cease-fire would have to come from the Israelis. Israeli tanks have frequently entered Palestinian territory since Sharon announced the cease-fire earlier in the week.

Still, the Israeli leadership expressed its disappointment that the violence has not stopped.

"This is not the answer we were expecting from our declaration of a cease-fire. We stretched our hands in peace, and the response was horrifying," said Avi Pazner, a spokesman for Sharon.

An immediate end to hostilities was one of the recommendations by the Mitchell Committee, an international, independent committee formed to investigate the Israeli-Palestinian violence that has been going on for eight months.







RELATED STORIES:
RELATED SITES:
WORLD TOP STORIES:

 Search   

Back to the top