Five Israelis were murdered this afternoon when an Arab suicide bomber detonated his explosives aboard a public bus in the heart of Tel Aviv. Everyone on the bus and in its vicinity - Allenby and Rothschild Streets - was hurt or killed; over 50 people were treated in nearby hospitals, including one with life-threatening injuries and another eight with serious wounds.
The bus was heading north when it exploded just meters away from Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue during the busy lunch hour. The bus was reduced to a heap of charred metal, and some passengers were thrown out through a large hole created by the explosion. Others got out on their own through windows and doors. Eyewitnesses were horrified to observe chunks of human flesh spread all over the ground in the vicinity of the doomed bus.
Yossi Landau, a volunteer for the emergency medical and burial organization known as Zaka, said today that the Allenby attack was especially grave, as the bomb contained an enormous amount of nails and screws that greatly compound the injuries caused by the explosion. He said that bodily remains were spread out over a very large radius.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the mass murder. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer convened his security chiefs this afternoon to discuss the situation, and Prime Minister Sharon will convene the full security cabinet this evening. The army imposed an open-ended curfew after the attack upon all PLO-controlled cities, except for Hevron. Curfews on Shechem and Jenin had been temporarily lifted earlier this week, possibly enabling the terrorist to reach his target.
Among the first to arrive on the scene to treat the wounded was Hatzolah rescue-team member Boaz Shabo, who lost his wife and three children in a terrorist attack in the Shomron community of Itamar this past June.
The bus was heading north when it exploded just meters away from Tel Aviv's Great Synagogue during the busy lunch hour. The bus was reduced to a heap of charred metal, and some passengers were thrown out through a large hole created by the explosion. Others got out on their own through windows and doors. Eyewitnesses were horrified to observe chunks of human flesh spread all over the ground in the vicinity of the doomed bus.
Yossi Landau, a volunteer for the emergency medical and burial organization known as Zaka, said today that the Allenby attack was especially grave, as the bomb contained an enormous amount of nails and screws that greatly compound the injuries caused by the explosion. He said that bodily remains were spread out over a very large radius.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the mass murder. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer convened his security chiefs this afternoon to discuss the situation, and Prime Minister Sharon will convene the full security cabinet this evening. The army imposed an open-ended curfew after the attack upon all PLO-controlled cities, except for Hevron. Curfews on Shechem and Jenin had been temporarily lifted earlier this week, possibly enabling the terrorist to reach his target.
Among the first to arrive on the scene to treat the wounded was Hatzolah rescue-team member Boaz Shabo, who lost his wife and three children in a terrorist attack in the Shomron community of Itamar this past June.