Suicide bomber kills 5 in Netanya

By Rafael D. Frankel

NETANYA, Israel—Five people were killed and over 40 injured Monday when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a popular mall in this coastal city.

The blast tore through the concrete wall of the Canyon Ha Shomron mall and sent glass from the above façade crashing down to the crowded sidewalk below. There it laid for hours after among body parts, a pair of boots, shopping bags, and the leaves of a nearby tree which were blown off in the blast.

Pieces of burnt and bloodied flesh were sent 50 yards in every direction and blood stained the mall wall as high as 20 feet above ground after what both an Israeli police spokesman and an NYPD counter-terrorism expert said was anunusually large explosion.

However a far greater loss of life was prevented by the diligence of private mall security guards and three or four policemen who identified the bomber as suspicious and, with weapons drawn, ordered him to the side of the entrance, Police Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

"The fact that the security guard and policemen managed to identify the bomber meant that they prevented a major disaster," Israeli Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi said. Though reports were unclear as of press time, at least one security guard was killed and police officers were among the injured.

The terrorist group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack and named 21-year-old Lutfi Amin Abu Salem, from the nearby West Bank village of Kafr Rai, as the bomber. Shortly after the bombing, the group released avideo of Abu Salem posing with a grenade launcher and an assault rifle.

Buchnik Gal, 36, who was stopped in his car at a traffic light directly across from the entrance to the mall said after the explosion there were “lots of bodies on the ground and on the road and people yelling out.”

The driver’s side window on Gal’s car was blown out and the front windshield was cracked in the explosion which also deposited a piece of flesh in the door slot where his window was. Additionally, a ball bearing shot through the shell of his car just one inch from the gas tank. (Suicide bombers here often pack their bombs with ball bearings to maximize injuries and damage.)

This was the third bombing of the Canyon Ha Shomron mall since the last intifada began more than five years ago.

The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions in Israel after a series of rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israeli towns the last two days, prompting Israel to retaliate with artillery fire into the territory recently evacuated by the Israeli civilians and the army.

No life was lost in those attacks and counter-attacks, but just hours before the suicide bombing, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz announced the IDF was authorized to resume its assassinations of Palestinian militants both in Gaza and the West Bank.

Though Palestinian militant groups signed on to a cease-fire with Israel at the beginning of the year, Islamic Jihad has nonetheless been responsiblefor at least five suicide bombings since then, and leaders in Damascus, Syria, had recently said they would likely not extend the cease fire beyond the end of the year.

The bombing drew a harsh verbal response from Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who said "the Palestinian Authority will not go easy on whoever is proved to be responsible" and that he would issue arrest orders for anyone connected with the attack.

However Israeli officials were skeptical of his promise, saying Abbas had talked tough before but had not delivered results. Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called the attack "additional proof of the inaction of the Palestinian Authority under [Abbas]. He added: "The leadership of the Palestinian Authority is refusing to act against the terror organizationsand to dismantle them."

Government Spokesman Ra’anan Gissin further accused Syria, Iran, and the terrorist group Hezbollah, which operates in southern Lebanon, of encouraging the attack to deflect growing international pressure against them.

IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz warned Sunday that he does not think diplomacy will compel Iran to give up its nuclear weapons program and Iran fired back that any Israeli attack would be met with a harsh reply.

©2005 Rafael D. Frankel and The New York Daily News