Miracle Protection – Car Bomb Only Wounds Eight
Miracle Protection – Car Bomb Only Wounds Eight
(By Clarence Wagner
April 24, 2001
In the wake of yet another car bomb attack in the Israeli town of Or Yehuda on April 23, senior police officials declared it was nothing short of a miracle that only 8 people were lightly injured. The car bomb exploded in an open market crowded with shoppers preparing for Thursday’s Independence Day celebrations. At about 2 pm in the afternoon, a car stolen from Jerusalem and packed with explosives detonated in the heart of the commercial center where the terrorists had placed it. The explosion gutted two nearby cars and caused extensive damage to shops in the area.
Ya’acov Lilmaiyev of Tel Aviv, who was caught in the explosions, recounts, “I came to change some shoes and had just gotten out of my car and started to walk in the direction of the shop, when there was a tremendous explosion. My car was totally destroyed, together with another one and the car that exploded. I was just lucky I got out when I did.” Police sappers investigating the scene revealed that a large pipe bomb filled with nails and metal fragments had been placed in the rear of the stolen car.
The recent wave of terror has most Israelis feeling like they are playing a perpetual game of Russian roulette every time they go on a bus, to the market or even just walk down the street. Insp-Gen Shlomo Ahronishky of the police reiterated his call to the public to continue as normal, while keeping their eyes open for any suspicious persons, vehicles, or objects, and to report them immediately.
Used with Permission from Bridges for Peace.