Bomber Kills 9 on Israel Bus

Sun Aug 4

MOUNT MERON, Israel - And yet another Palestinian homicide bomber turned a morning rush-hour bus crowded with civilians and soldiers in northern Israel into a fireball on Sunday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens.

Hours later, a Palestinian opened fire at an Israeli telephone truck in a Palestinian market in East Jerusalem in an attack in which three people, including the gunman, were killed, police said.

Witnesses and rescue workers said the explosion ignited an inferno that blazed for 10 minutes before the fire brigade arrived.

"There were mangled bodies everywhere," Nissim Hozeh, a fireman, told reporters. Pieces of clothing, including army uniforms and bags littered the ground for meters.

The militant group Hamas said it had carried out the bombing in further revenge for an Israeli air raid on July 22 that killed its military commander Salah Shehada, his deputy and 13 other Palestinians.

Although the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, it continues to fail to act against the terrorists among them suggesting to many that the PA harbors them.