Twin blasts at Israeli port kill eight - Israel & Palestine

Twin blasts at Israeli port kill eight

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Posted by: TWBR


Two explosions have killed eight people at the Israeli seaport of Ashdod.



http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/rdonlyres/C68CEDCB-F1FF-4FB3-B769-F016F28FDDCE/31504/629C741BF71F42ED8957C41A2BAC2F85.jpg


Details are still emerging but police said on Sunday that it was an apparent human bombing as two of the bodies belong to the bombers themselves.

Police initially believed that the explosions were set off accidentally in a workshop in the port.

The blasts were heard around 17:00 (15:00 GMT).

Rescue services spokesman Yerucham Mendola said "some of the victims were thrown a long distance" by the blasts.

At least nineteen people were injured in the blasts, eight seriously.

One of the bombers reportedly exploded just outside the main gate to the port. The second managed to enter the facility and detonated his bomb just a short time later in a centrally-located workshop inside the port.

It was the first attack of its kind at an Israeli seaport during more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Palestinian resistance groups Hamas and al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade have both claimed responsibility for the attacks, according to Hizb Allah's television network, al-Manar.

Teenage bombers

A member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade identified the assailants as Nabil Massud, 18, and Muhammad Salim, also 18, from the Jabaliya refugee camp.

Israeli Cabinet Minister Yosef Paritzky said that the assailants "found a weak point and exploited it."

"A port, by nature, is a very busy place," he said. "There are many people coming and going. It is impossible to seal the entire country hermetically."

Ashdod is 40 km north of the Gaza Strip, a hotbed of Palestinian resistance fighters who have vowed revenge after Israeli soldiers killed 14 people in a raid on 7 March.

A Palestinian bomber killed eight people aboard a Jerusalem bus on 22 February.

The last attacks that originated from Gaza were last year when two British citizens used their foreign passports to exit Gaza with explosives. One blew up a night spot in Tel Aviv while the other was later found dead.

Gaza is surrounded by Israel's controversial separation wall.

Palestinians and the international community have condemned the construction of the wall since the route cuts deep into Palestinian territory.

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Posted by: TWBR

Links -

AlJazeera - http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exe...016F28FDDCE.htm

BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3510708.stm

Haaretz Daily - http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/404544.html

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Posted by: TWBR

UPDATED.

10 People Killed

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