An Israeli girl was killed, and nine other people injured in a suicide bombing attack on a Herzliya restaurant Tuesday evening.
The girl was brought to hospital in a very serious condition. Another person was seriously injured in the attack, while a third sustained moderate injuries. The other six were lightly wounded.
A loud explosion was heard around 7.40 P.M. (local time) in this coastal city, located north of Tel Aviv.
The Palestinian bomber apparently was deterred from entering the restaurant, and instead blew himself up outside.
Police attributed the limited damage and the relatively small amount of wounded and damage to the area to the comparatively small size of the bomb.
Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was briefed on the attack during his meeting with Congressmen in Washington. David Baker, an official in Sharon's office, denounced the attack as "another example of the Palestinians' intention to commit murder for the sake of murder."
The Palestinian Authority condemned the bombing, saying it "rejects and condemns all operations against civilians in Israel. "These operations give the Israeli government a reason to strike at our people, and the international community stays silent," the PA statement said.
But Hamas said the latest bombing was a "natural response to Israeli crimes." Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, told AFP that "this operation is a natural response by our people to the crimes perpetrated by the Zionist enemy."
He added that it proves the "failure of Operation Defensive Wall", the massive five-week invasion of the West Bank launched on March 29 that Israel said was to target the Palestinian "terrorist infrastructure".
"Israel cannot ensure its security by carrying out a policy of blockades, incursions and liquidations," Abu Shanab said, without claiming the attack on behalf of Hamas. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
