11 killed in port suicide attack
Two Palestinian suicide bombers infiltrated a closely-guarded port, killing 11 Israelis in the first deadly attack on a strategic installation in more than three years of Middle East fighting.
After yesterday’s attack in Ashdod, police ordered increased security at all Israeli seaports, airports and stations, and Israel Radio reported that the overall terror alert was at its highest level.
Early today, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at three workshops in Gaza City, causing damage but no casualties. The Israeli military said the targeted workshops were used by Hamas to make weapons, including mortars and rockets.
Before the air strikes, Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon had consulted his army chief of staff over an Israeli response to the bombing, Army Radio reported.
The attackers were the first Palestinian bombers from Gaza to infiltrate into Israel during the current round of violence. The volatile coastal strip is surrounded by a fence and subject to stringent security.
The bombing had immediate political consequences. Sharon cancelled a meeting with his Palestinian counterpart, Ahmed Qureia, that had tentatively been set for tomorrow. Preparatory talks set for today were also called off, a Sharon aide said.
Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat condemned the attack on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and expressed regret that Israel cancelled the talks.
Police said the bombers may have intended to blow themselves up near chemical tanks to try to cause far greater loss of life. The bombings raised serious questions about Israel’s vulnerability.
The country has been fearing a so-called “mega attack” on a chemical depot or fuel storage facility.
Area police commander Moshe Karadi said the explosives used were “different from other such cases”. Israel TV said they were high-grade plastic explosives not used before in Palestinian attacks, indicating a deadly upgrade for future operations.
Sharon aide Raanan Gissin said the target was no surprise because terrorists had long been trying to carry out a massive bombing, “and today was another effort to carry out such an attack”.
A major power station was also nearby. Government officials said they would investigate how the attackers were able to get into such a sensitive facility.
Palestinian militants had previously targeted a fuel depot, in 2002, but that attack did not kill anyone.
A plot to blow up skyscrapers in Tel Aviv was foiled.
Yesterday’s bombings happened before 5pm local time (3pm Irish time), one outside the perimeter fence and one inside a workshop inside the fence.
“One of our workers who was lightly wounded told me that the terrorist came in and asked for water and the moment he showed him where there was a tap, he blew up,” said Sami Pinto, a port worker.
Morris Rima, who works at a nearby haulage company, ran towards the scene. “When I arrived here I saw body parts strewn around, some of them hanging on the barbed wire,” he said.
Eighteen people were injured.
Until yesterday, all Palestinian bombers since 2000 came from the West Bank, which has a much more porous border with Israel.
Israel is building a barrier in the West Bank aimed at stopping attackers, but Palestinians object to the planned route, which cuts deep into territory they claim for a future state.
Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, militants with links to Yasser Arafat’s Fatah party, claimed joint responsibility for the attack.
The Ashdod bombers were identified as Nabil Massoud, 17, and Mahmoud Salem, 17. They were classmates in a high school in the Jebaliya refugee camp, a large shanty town near Gaza City and a hotbed of militancy. The teenagers’ fathers said they were proud of their sons.
The groups said the attack came in response to Israeli killings of Palestinian militants.
After evening prayers, worshippers streamed out of mosques on along the road from Jebaliya to Gaza City, celebrating on the streets and shouting Hamas slogans.
Abu Qusay, an Al Aqsa leader in Gaza, said the attack was meant to show that “we can reach any place in Israel, even the heavily protected places, such as a port or airport”.
Sharon said last month that in the absence of peace moves, Israel would carry out his “disengagement plan”, which includes the evacuation of Gaza Strip settlements.
In preparation for the possible withdrawal, the Palestinian Authority has drawn up a security plan for Gaza that would ban militants from carrying arms in public, according to a copy obtained by reporters.
The plan, finalised on March 4 after discussions with Egyptian officials, would also leave Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s cousin, Moussa, as head of a new security force of 700 soldiers that would maintain order on the border of Egypt and Gaza, Palestinian security sources said.
