10 Israelis Killed in Attack on Bus

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 13, 2001

10 Israelis Killed in Attack on Bus

Arafat has ordered immediate closur of all Hamas and Islamic Jihad institutions as Israeli warplanes fired at least one missile in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, hours after 10 Israelis were killed in a West Bank bus ambush and a double suicide bombing in Gaza, witnesses said.

They said one of two warplanes flying over the Gaza Strip fired a missile at a target in Gaza City. It was not immediately clear what the target was and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Earlier, 10 people were killed and at least 30 wounded when Palestinian gunmen ambushed a bus travelling from Tel Aviv to the Jewish settlement of Immanuel in the northern West Bank on Wednesday.

Witnesses and medics at the scene said a bomb was detonated as the bus turned a corner near the entrance to the settlement. Seconds later, Palestinian gunmen sprayed the bus and three civilian cars with heavy machineguns and tossed grenades.

Israeli police and security officials said 10 people were killed in the attack, many of them passengers on the bus. Others were reportedly trapped in the wreckage of the bus and in nearby cars damaged in the attack. "The latest toll from the bus attack indicates that 10 Israelis were killed and around 30 others wounded, some of them seriously," an army spokesman told AFP.

Israeli radio stations said the driver of one vehicle ran over a gunman while he was firing. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an armed group linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority condemned devastating anti-Israeli attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip Wednesday that killed eight people and injured many others.

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