Israel holds Palestinians responsible
(AP)
Updated: 2006-04-18 20:03
"Suddenly there was a boom. The whole restaurant flew in the air," said Azi
Otmazgo, 35, who was inside and was wounded on his hands, foot and head.
The bomb, laced with nails and other projectiles, shattered car windshields,
smashed windows of nearby buildings and blew away the restaurant's sign. Glass
shards and blood splattered the ground. Police said the guard was torn in half
by the blast.
Six Israelis and two Romanian workers were among those killed. One woman was
killed while standing near her husband and children who were wounded, witnesses
said.
In Gaza, Islamic Jihad militants handed out pastries on the streets in
celebration.
The attack was the deadliest since 16 people were killed in a double suicide
bombing on two buses in the southern city of Beersheba on Aug. 31, 2004. It was
the second major Passover bombing in four years. A 2002 attack at a hotel in the
coastal town of Netanya killed 29 people and unleashed a major Israeli military
offensive.
Islamic Jihad identified Monday's bomber as Samer Hammad from a village
outside the northern West Bank town of Jenin. In a video released by the group,
Hammad said the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinian prisoners
in Israeli jails. "There are many other bombers on the way," he
said.
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