A terrorist bomb blew apart a crowded bus in the heart of Tel Aviv Wednesday, scattering dead and injured over the street in an apparent suicide attack by Islamic militants. Police said 22 people were killed and 48 injured in the worst attack in Tel Aviv since 1975.
Israeli officials warned of retaliation following the blast, the third major attack in 11 days claimed by radicals of the Hamas group who oppose Israel-Arab peacemaking.Authorities said they believed a suicide bomber, carrying about 25 to 45 pounds of explosives, boarded a red-and-white No. 5 Dan bus headed up Dizengoff Street in the center of Israel's largest city.
The 9 a.m. explosion ripped apart the northbound city bus and damaged a second bus passing in the other direction.
"People went flying into the air, arms and legs. It was a very terrible thing," said Moshe Reiner, who was walking to work when the blast occurred.
The bus, a charred skeleton of twisted metal, stood in the middle of the city's main street with bodies of women and a child sprawled on the sidewalk.
"People flew from the sidewalk, the head of the driver was completely cut off," said Eitan Yamini, who witnessed the explosion that occurred between Dizengoff Square and Frishman Street.
Police spokeswoman Eti Greenburg said 22 people were killed and 48 wounded. She said authorities had not ruled out the possibility that the bomb was
planted. Officials threatened reprisals. President Ezer Weizman said Israel would have to take "extraordinary action" to find the roots of the Islamic extremist groups and "rip them to pieces."
The attack exploded the euphoria of recent days surrounding Israel's peacemaking with Jordan and the planned signing of a peace treaty next week in a ceremony to be attended by President Clinton.
Clinton called the bombing "an outrage against the conscience of the world," but said he is going ahead with plans for the visit. The attack, he said, was "aimed at destroying the hopes of the Palestinian people as surely as it is directed at the people of Israel."
Israel immediately closed the West Bank and Gaza Strip, barring tens of thousands of Palestinians from entering Israel. The government called an emergency Cabinet meeting and ordered buses stopped and searched for bombs.
The latest wave of violence began Oct. 9, when two bystanders were killed by radicals who sprayed a busy Jerusalem cafe district with gunfire. The same day, an Israeli soldier was kidnapped; his Hamas captors killed him Friday as Israeli commandos tried to rescue him.
An anonymous caller to Israel Radio claimed responsibility for Wednesday's bombing in the name of Hamas. In a statement read out in Gaza mosques, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades - Hamas' military wing - claimed responsibility and promised more attacks.
"God is great. God will torment them with your hands and the hands of the faithful," the statement said. The bombing was in revenge for the killing of three Hamas militants who kidnapped and killed the Israeli soldier, it said.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres vowed that Israel "will not hesitate to find those responsible for this terrible action."
PLO leader Yasser Arafat denounced the attack, which occurred as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators sat down in Cairo to talk about expanding Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank.
"Pushing forward with the peace process and implementing the rest of the agreement is the only way to respond to the enemies of peace who are getting their support, their training and financing from well-known outside parties," Arafat said, alluding to Iran's fundamentalist regime.
But Israel contends the PLO has done too little to rein in Islamic groups, and Peres said it was too early to say if Israel would press ahead with the
negotiations. In London, Prime Minister Yit-zhak Rabin said he would return early from his trip and accused Islamic radicals of trying to destroy the peace process.
"It is a continuation of the attempt by those who are the enemies of peace, the extreme Islamic terror groups," he said.
Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak, the military chief of staff, said the bombing appeared to be a suicide attack carried out by a man who boarded the bus with explosives, either in a sack or tied to his body.
He hinted that Israel might have to seal off Gaza and the West Bank for a long time and "reconsider" its "way of life with the Arabs, which permits a flow of so many people into Israel."
It was the bloodiest attack in Tel Aviv since Palestinian terrorists seized hostages at the Savoy Hotel in 1975. Eleven Israelis and seven Palestinians were killed in that attack.
Dozens of people ran screaming and in panic along Dizengoff Street after today's blast.
"How much more can we take?" screamed one young girl.
Another teenager stood near the site, sobbing for a boyfriend who apparently did not survive.
"The whole house swayed, and the windows shook," said Liora Cohen, who lived close to the site. "I saw flames shooting up from the bus and then smoke. People were running around screaming."