Sgt. Mayan Naim, a 19-year-old female soldier, was killed this morning, and close to 30 people were wounded, in a Palestinian terror attack in southern Tel Aviv. Four people are in moderate-to-serious condition. A "small-to-moderate" explosive device had been planted adjacent to a bus stop on Har Tzion Blvd., near Tel Aviv's old central bus station. When city bus line #26 passed by shortly after 7 AM, the bomb was detonated, apparently by remote control, wounding both pedestrians and bus passengers.
One woman was critically wounded and died en route to the hospital. Another pregnant woman was rushed to Ichilov hospital's operating room for emergency surgery.
Albina Natayev, 23, a security guard riding the bus on her way to work, described the immediate aftermath of the blast:
"The door [of the bus] was destroyed, and the windows were blown out. Everyone was in panic. People fainted and others were shouting, 'run away!' The bus driver also shouted that we should get out. I told him to open the door, which he did, and then we all fled from the bus. I saw people outside with metal fragments in their eyes; others outside had fainted, because the blast originated from outside the bus. Many people were running in all directions. One woman covered in blood came to me for help. She was in much worse condition that I was."
Others described how many people ran towards the area of the attack immediately after the blast in order to offer help. The emergency services also arrived on the scene very quickly, according to eyewitnesses.
This morning's attack was the first of its kind in the Tel Aviv area in over six months. Last December, three soldiers and a citizen were killed when a suicide terrorist blew himself up at a bus stop under the Geha Junction overpass.
One lightly hurt victim of the blast was an Arab citizen living in Jaffa, who declared emphatically afterwards on Voice of Israel radio: "I was against the [security] fence, but now I am for it, and I will start a society in favor of it. If the terrorists can get even me, an Arab from Jaffa, then there is really no other solution..."
Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim said that the terrorists apparently entered via a portion of the anti-terrorism route where the fence has not yet been built. He expressed strong criticism of the Hague's decision to deem the partition illegal.
A heretofore unknown terror organization connected to Arafat's Fatah/Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades has claimed responsibility for the attack. Brig.-Gen (res.) Moshe Elad explained in a Voice of Israel radio interview that the organization has military bases in Shechem (Nablus) and receives its orders from offices that operate openly in Jordan. Elad said that the IDF has focused intense efforts on eliminating the group's main leaders. He recommended a policy of continuing to hunt down and kill the terrorists, while simultaneously launching a diplomatic effort to close the offices in Jordan. A Voice of Israel reporter noted that the organization is sometimes funded by Hizbullah, Iran and/or the Palestinian Authority - depending on where the money comes from at any given point - and is thus a symptom of the "total chaos" currently reigning in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.
One woman was critically wounded and died en route to the hospital. Another pregnant woman was rushed to Ichilov hospital's operating room for emergency surgery.
Albina Natayev, 23, a security guard riding the bus on her way to work, described the immediate aftermath of the blast:
"The door [of the bus] was destroyed, and the windows were blown out. Everyone was in panic. People fainted and others were shouting, 'run away!' The bus driver also shouted that we should get out. I told him to open the door, which he did, and then we all fled from the bus. I saw people outside with metal fragments in their eyes; others outside had fainted, because the blast originated from outside the bus. Many people were running in all directions. One woman covered in blood came to me for help. She was in much worse condition that I was."
Others described how many people ran towards the area of the attack immediately after the blast in order to offer help. The emergency services also arrived on the scene very quickly, according to eyewitnesses.
This morning's attack was the first of its kind in the Tel Aviv area in over six months. Last December, three soldiers and a citizen were killed when a suicide terrorist blew himself up at a bus stop under the Geha Junction overpass.
One lightly hurt victim of the blast was an Arab citizen living in Jaffa, who declared emphatically afterwards on Voice of Israel radio: "I was against the [security] fence, but now I am for it, and I will start a society in favor of it. If the terrorists can get even me, an Arab from Jaffa, then there is really no other solution..."
Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim said that the terrorists apparently entered via a portion of the anti-terrorism route where the fence has not yet been built. He expressed strong criticism of the Hague's decision to deem the partition illegal.
A heretofore unknown terror organization connected to Arafat's Fatah/Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades has claimed responsibility for the attack. Brig.-Gen (res.) Moshe Elad explained in a Voice of Israel radio interview that the organization has military bases in Shechem (Nablus) and receives its orders from offices that operate openly in Jordan. Elad said that the IDF has focused intense efforts on eliminating the group's main leaders. He recommended a policy of continuing to hunt down and kill the terrorists, while simultaneously launching a diplomatic effort to close the offices in Jordan. A Voice of Israel reporter noted that the organization is sometimes funded by Hizbullah, Iran and/or the Palestinian Authority - depending on where the money comes from at any given point - and is thus a symptom of the "total chaos" currently reigning in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.