Suicide Bombing in Northern Israel Carried out by Woman: Police

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 20, 2003

Suicide Bombing in Northern Israel Carried out by Woman: Police

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Israeli security officials has confirmed that Monday afternoon's suicide bombing in northern Israel city of Afula was carried out by a woman, the fourth female bomber since the Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed began 31 months ago.

The first suicide bombing carried out by a woman was on Jan. 27,2002, when two people were killed and 111 injured in a suicide bombing attack on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem.

On Monday afternoon, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at the main entrance to the Shaarei Amakim shopping mall in Afula at about 5:15 p.m. (1415 GMT), killing three people and wounding some 50 others, 13 of them seriously.

The Islamic Jihad (Holy War) has claimed responsibility for the Afula attack, but later the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed wing of Fatah movement, called the Associated Press, saying Heba Daraghmeh, 19, a member of the group from the West Bank village of Tubas, carried out the attack.

Local police said the bomber detonated her explosive belt seconds after the security guard prevented her from entering into the shopping center, adding the security guard was among those being killed.

Israeli defense officials believe that the bomber was dispatchedfrom the West Bank city of Jenin, which is the nearest Palestinian city from Afula.

Earlier in the day, the Israeli security establishment said thatthey had received 54 terror attack warnings, but there were no specific warnings that bombers were targeting Afula.

Monday afternoon's attack in Afula is the fifth suicide bombing aimed at Israelis in both Israeli and Palestinian territories in the past 48 hours.

On Saturday night, an Israeli couple were killed in a suicide attack in the West Bank city of Hebron. On Sunday morning, seven people were killed in a suicide bus bombing in Jerusalem, and half hour later another bomber blew himself up also in Jerusalem, killing only himself.

Earlier Monday, three soldiers were lightly wounded when a suicide bomber blew up in southern Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Ra'anan Gissin said after Monday afternoon's bombing that the attack is the Palestinian terror organizations' "declaration of war against Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas' new government."

Gissin said that as much as these attacks are directed against Israel, they are also a clear challenge to Abbas, who has called for an end to terror attacks.

Earlier Monday, Sharon, speaking to a group of his party followers, said that the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) would continue to act in the Palestinian territories to thwart attacks until the Palestinians prove they can do so.

"Peace will only survive after the total defeat of terror. The State of Israel will continue to fight for this," said Sharon.

However, Sharon added that during his meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas late Saturday night, the two agreed tomeet again "in the near future."

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