Patt Junction Massacre
The attack
On the morning of June 18, 2002, at 7:50 am, a Palestinian suicide bomber from Bethlehem got onto the Egged line 32A bus, which came from the Gilo neighborhood and stopped at Beit Safafa, an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem. The bomber boarded the bus and exploded himself in the front. His explosive belt included metal balls for shrapnel in order to maximize casualties.
The perpetrators
Palestinian Islamist group Hamas claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack. The suicide bomber was identified as Muhammad al-Ghoul, a 22-year-old student at An-Najah National University in Nablus. He strapped explosives packed with nails to his body and boarded the bus during the morning rush hour as schoolchildren and commuters travelled to downtown Jerusalem from Gilo. The explosion lifted the bus off the ground, tore off its roof and sent bodies flying through the windows. Two residents of the East Jerusalem suburb of Jabel Mukaber were tried and convicted for transporting the suicide bomber. During a commando raid in Nablus on June 30, Israeli soldiers killed senior Hamas bomb-maker Muhaned Taher, who according to Israel was behind this and other attacks.
Aftermath
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Charred bus exhibit
The charred remains of the bus were shipped to America and displayed at the biannual Jewish Expo fair in New York at the initiative of Zaka, an Israeli rescue and body parts recovery organization whose volunteers scrape up fragments of blood and flesh from bomb scenes for burial in keeping with Jewish law. Zaka said its aim was to increase awareness of its work and show the effects of suicide bombings.
See also
References
- ^ Fisher, Ian (20 June 2002). "MIDEAST TURMOIL: THE MOOD; In Jerusalem, Despair and Determination". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ^ New York times New architecture in Beit Safafa
- ^ Patt Junction terror attack
- ^ Patt Junction terror attack
- ^ "Mideast Dispatch Archive: Bombed Israeli bus to be exhibited in New York, and other stories". Retrieved 14 December 2014.
- ^ Peter Beaumont, 'Hamas threat over killing of key bomber,' The Guardian 2 July 2002
- ^ "Mideast Dispatch Archive: Bombed Israeli bus to be exhibited in New York, and other stories". Retrieved 14 December 2014.
External links
- Suicide Bomber Hits Jerusalem Bus, Killing At Least 18 - published on The New York Times on June 19, 2002
- Suicide bombing at Patt junction in Jerusalem - 18-Jun-2002 - published at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Diameter of the Bomb, Documentary about the bombing - published on hulu.com
- Bus Turned to Carnage in Instant - published on Eugene Register-Guard on June 19, 2002
