A bomb hidden in a car shattered the Israeli Embassy and broke windows in surrounding buildings and Kensington Palace Tuesday, injuring at least 15 people, one of them seriously. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel blamed Islamic extremists.
"It was a huge, huge explosion. Parts of the building just collapsed," said Rachel Gordon, who works in the embassy's press of-fice.The blast, which occurred just after noon, also shattered windows at Kensington Palace, where Princess Diana and other royal family members live, and other nearby buildings.
A spokesman for Buckingham Pal-ace said Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth II, was in Kensington Palace at the time, but no one was injured.
No one claimed responsibility for the bomb, planted a day after Jordan and Israel officially ended decades of hostility at a ceremony in Washington, and eight days after a bomb at a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killed at least 80 people. Officials suspect ultranationalists or Middle Eastern terrorists in the Argentine at-tack.
"Anti-terrorist branch officers have confirmed that the explosion appears to have been caused by an explosive device in a motor vehicle," a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said.
Scotland Yard said the parked car blew up on grass at the front of the embassy along Palace Green, a street that runs past Kensington Palace.
"When we heard the explosion we immediately laid down on the floor," said Amir Maimon, second secretary at the embassy.
"Right afterward we evacuated people from the embassy to Hyde Park and sent people home," he said. "There was no panic. Everything is under control and thank God we are all alive."
Rabin who was addressing a joint session of Congress with King Hussein of Jordan, said: "There is no doubt in my mind that we face a wave of extreme Islamic radical terrorist movements in the Arab-Muslim countries. They have the infrastructure all over the world." He said the extremists are intent on wrecking the Middle East peace process.
Steve Partridge, who said he was about 20 yards from the explosion, said the street "was full of bits of vehicle."
"It felt like bits of glass were flying everywhere. All the windows in the surrounding buildings were smashed out," he said.
Charing Cross Hospital said 13 people were treated for injuries caused by the explosion, and one was seriously injured. People were admitted for smoke inhalation, shock, and shrapnel and glass injuries, and one man suffered head injuries when he fell from scaffolding, a spokeswoman said.
The London Ambulance Service said injured people also were taken to two other hospitals.