Palestinians claim bomb-blast

Press, 9 March 1984, Page 6

Palestinians claim bomb-blast

NZPA-Reuter Ashdod A bomb ripped through a bus in Ashdod yesterday killing three Israelis. The police set up roadblocks outside Ashdod, a Mediterranean port city, and detained 150 Arabs for questioning about the blast, which wounded eight other people. It was the most serious bombing in Israel since a

blast on a Jerusalem bus in December killed six Israelis and wounded 44. The Abu Nidal Palestinian guerrilla group has claimed responsibility for this blast. The bomb, hidden under one of the seats, exploded at 9 a.m. as the red-and-white bus took shoppers from an outdoor market to Ashdod’s central bus station. “Normally there are

double the number of people on this bus," said a woman passenger. Explosives experts sifted through debris and broken glass scattered over a 20metre area around the bus as they looked for clues. A pool of blood covered the nearby pavement. In Jerusalem police sources said that seven suspects arrested on Tuesday had admitted shooting at an

Arab bus on the occupied West Bank and trying to blow up Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest shrines. The arrests capped months of intensive police investigation into attacks on Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem and on the West Bank. Police said the arrests were a breakthrough and more were expected.