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At Jerusalem market, horror beyond words -- again
Compiled from Times wires
But at 4:15 Friday afternoon, a powerful bomb exploded just outside the market. The busy hum of dickering shoppers was replaced by a ferocious blast that ripped at eardrums, shattered glass, lifted cars and scattered blood, produce, canned goods and human remains across the street. "I heard the boom from my car, and I felt myself with my car flying in the air," said Ali Majdi, an Israeli Arab who was driving in the area at the time. "A terrible explosion tore my ears," a witness named Shai Kadosh told Israeli TV. "The sights were horrible. No words can describe what I saw." A taxi driver saw a detached human hand fly by his window. A photographer saw a severed female head -- perhaps the bomber's -- lying on the ground. The bomber killed six people besides herself. Of the nearly 90 people wounded from the blast, a half-dozen were in serious condition. Many others were treated for moderate shrapnel wounds, shock and hearing loss. Secretary of State Colin Powell was at a nearby helipad when the bomber struck. A helicopter taking him to Israel's tense border with Lebanon flew over the scene of the attack. Police said the bombing was perpetrated by a woman who looked to be in her 20s. Israel Radio identified her as Nidal Daraghmeh, from the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the group that claimed responsibility for the bomb, gave her name as Nidal Daraghni. The Mahane Yehuda market has been the scene of suicide bombings before. Police said the woman apparently wanted to get inside the market but thought better of it when she saw the heavy security at the entrance. She turned around, police said, walked to a nearby bus stop, and waited for a bus to pull up. Soon, a bus arrived, driven by Hussein Awadallah, an Israeli Arab. Awadallah, who has been a driver for three years, had received security training. When allowing passengers to board the bus he left the back doors closed so terrorists could not get on. Apparently despairing of being able to board, the young woman blew herself up at the bus's forward door. "It sounded like a mountain exploded," said a municipal worker who identified himself only as Gilad. "The ground was moving. People ran away, screaming." Smoke and flames filled the bus. Awadallah quickly opened the back doors so his passengers could get out, and ran back to help those who could not get off on their own. His face and hand were badly burned. Emergency workers raced to the scene. Police used bomb-sniffing dogs to check for a possible second bomb. Paramedics and investigators worked through the carnage wearing rubber gloves, paper overclothes and protective plastic footwear. Mayor Ehud Olmert was buying bread at a nearby shop when the blast went off and ran through the crowds to help. Anger at the deaths rippled through the crowd. Protesters gathered, shouting and chanting slogans. Some hoisted pictures of Arafat emblazoned with the words, "Off with his head." -- Information from Cox News Service, the Associated Press and Washington Post was used in this report.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
