After a week of relative quiet - the security forces thwarted several attacks, and no one was killed (though one person was seriously wounded yesterday) - Palestinian terrorism returned with fierce vengeance this morning. At least 16 people - 13 of them soldiers - were murdered when a car bomb packed with explosives exploded alongside a passenger bus at the Megiddo junction, between Hadera and Afula. Some 50 people were wounded in this latest attack, and were transferred to Afula\'s HaEmek, Haifa\'s Rambam, and Hadera\'s Hillel Yaffe hospitals. Of the 25 who remained in the hospital for more than several hours, eight are in critical or serious condition and three are listed in \"moderate\" condition (which might mean irreversible damage to internal organs or the loss of a limb).
The explosion took place around 7:15 AM when Egged bus #830 traveling from Tel Aviv to the Kinneret sea-side city of Tiberias. The bus had left Tel Aviv at 5:50 AM and was packed with Israeli soldiers traveling to various army bases in the northern part of the country. Some of the passengers were hurled - safely - out of the bus by the force of the blast, while others remained trapped inside the flames. The explosives-laden car was totally destroyed, though it was ascertained to have been stolen from Lod in February. The bus was totally burnt and reduced to a skeleton of charred metal. The flames seriously hampered rescue efforts, while small explosions - probably bullets from the soldier-passengers\' weapons - continued to be heard from inside the burning bus for several minutes after the blast. The car was loaded with what the police called a \"very large\" explosive, as well as many of the usual metallic fragments, nails, and bolts designed to increase the carnage.
Because of the fire, identification of the bodies was a slow and arduous process. As of late this afternoon, thirteen bodies had been identified, and one of the names - Sgt. Violeta Hizgayev, 20 - had been released for publication. She will be buried in Hadera tomorrow. It is still not clear whether the terrorist\'s body is one of the 16 that have been recovered.
The explosion took place around 7:15 AM when Egged bus #830 traveling from Tel Aviv to the Kinneret sea-side city of Tiberias. The bus had left Tel Aviv at 5:50 AM and was packed with Israeli soldiers traveling to various army bases in the northern part of the country. Some of the passengers were hurled - safely - out of the bus by the force of the blast, while others remained trapped inside the flames. The explosives-laden car was totally destroyed, though it was ascertained to have been stolen from Lod in February. The bus was totally burnt and reduced to a skeleton of charred metal. The flames seriously hampered rescue efforts, while small explosions - probably bullets from the soldier-passengers\' weapons - continued to be heard from inside the burning bus for several minutes after the blast. The car was loaded with what the police called a \"very large\" explosive, as well as many of the usual metallic fragments, nails, and bolts designed to increase the carnage.
Because of the fire, identification of the bodies was a slow and arduous process. As of late this afternoon, thirteen bodies had been identified, and one of the names - Sgt. Violeta Hizgayev, 20 - had been released for publication. She will be buried in Hadera tomorrow. It is still not clear whether the terrorist\'s body is one of the 16 that have been recovered.