This morning was one of good fortune in the capital city of Jerusalem, when two car bombs and two explosives went off at various locations, causing hardly any injuries. Early this morning, one explosive went off under a parked truck in Ma\'alot Daphna near Ramat Eshkol, while another one blew up close to midnight in a building in the northern neighborhood of French Hill. Around 8 AM this morning, a car blew up in the French Hill shopping center, while at the same time in the south, a bomb was detonated in the trunk of a municipality vehicle in Gilo. Six people were lightly injured in all, and two were treated for shock.
The police assume that one cell was responsible for all four bombs - including the car in Gilo, which had been parked at night in a northern neighborhood - and that their intention was to hit children on their way to school. In fact, an eyewitness to the second French Hill explosion said that it was a miracle that the bomb did not wound many children. \"It was just a matter of minutes, or less, because that is where the #4 bus drops off many children on their way to school,\" he said.
A group calling itself the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades took responsibility for the bombings. The group is named for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader slain by Israel last week.
Asked how the terrorists had managed to place four bombs without being detected, Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy said that the police concentrated most of its forces elsewhere in the city today, in anticipation of a large Israeli-Arab demonstration outside the Supreme Court. He also said that it is impossible to protect northern Jerusalem hermetically against terrorists who arrive from Ramallah.
The police assume that one cell was responsible for all four bombs - including the car in Gilo, which had been parked at night in a northern neighborhood - and that their intention was to hit children on their way to school. In fact, an eyewitness to the second French Hill explosion said that it was a miracle that the bomb did not wound many children. \"It was just a matter of minutes, or less, because that is where the #4 bus drops off many children on their way to school,\" he said.
A group calling itself the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades took responsibility for the bombings. The group is named for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader slain by Israel last week.
Asked how the terrorists had managed to place four bombs without being detected, Jerusalem Police Chief Mickey Levy said that the police concentrated most of its forces elsewhere in the city today, in anticipation of a large Israeli-Arab demonstration outside the Supreme Court. He also said that it is impossible to protect northern Jerusalem hermetically against terrorists who arrive from Ramallah.