Twin bus blasts in Israel kill 15
AP, Jerusalem
Palestinian suicide bombers exploded two buses almost simultaneously in southern Israel yesterday, killing at least 15 people and wounding more than 80 in the first major Palestinian attack inside Israel in nearly six months. The Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were revenge for Israel's assassinations earlier this year of its spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and his successor Abdel Aziz Rantisi. The buses burst into flames near a main intersection in the center of Beersheba, the largest city in southern Israel, 25 miles west of Gaza City. Israel TV showed the two burned-out buses, flames shooting through the roof of one of them. At least two bodies, covered in white sheets, lay on the ground-- apparently those of the attackers. Israel police said at least 15 people were killed, and the death toll could rise, but it was not immediately clear if that number included the bombers. "We have to fight this terror," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters at the parliament in Jerusalem. "This is the policy of the government and this is my policy. The fight against terror will continue with full strength." The blasts came just hours after Sharon presented to his Likud party the most detailed timetable yet for Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and warned party rebels the plan "will be implemented, period." Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide bombings over the past four years of fighting, claimed responsibility for the attack in a leaflet passed out in Hebron, the closest West Bank city to Beersheba. In the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon, gunmen fired shots into the air to celebrate the attacks, a Palestinian official said. Palestinian militants haven't carried out a major attack inside Israel since March 14, when 11 people were killed in the port of Ashdod. Afterward, Israel assassinated Yassin, the Hamas spiritual leader in the Gaza, and then Rantisi. Israel has said the lull was due to its success in fighting militants, not a lack of effort by the armed groups. Israel has arrested or killed dozens of militants in recent months. Israel also says its contentious West Bank barrier has prevented numerous attacks. The barrier, about one-quarter complete, has not reached the area near Hebron.
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