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Dizengoff Street bus bombing

1994 suicide attack against civilians in Tel Aviv, Israel

Field	Value
title	Dizengoff Street bus bombing
image	פיגוע באוטובוס קו 5 בתל-אביב.jpg
map	{{location map	Tel Aviv#Israel center ta
lat_deg	32	lat_min=04	lat_sec=45	lat_dir=N
lon_deg	34	lon_min=46	lon_sec=26	lon_dir=E
border	infobox	label=
location	Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv, Israel
coordinates
date
time	9:00 am
timezone	UTC+2
type	Suicide attack
fatalities	23 (including the perpetrator)
injuries	104
perpetrator	Hamas claimed responsibility
assailant	Saleh Abdel Rahim al-Souwi
numpart	1

| time-begin = | time-end = The Dizengoff Street bus bombing was a Hamas suicide attack on a passenger bus driving down Dizengoff Street, Tel Aviv in 1994. At that time, it was the deadliest suicide bombing in Israeli history, and the first successful attack in Tel Aviv. 22 civilians were killed and 50 were injured. The attack was planned by Hamas chief Yahya Ayyash, a week before the signing of the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

Background

Yahya Ayyash was disappointed that the previous attack he orchestrated, the Hadera central station suicide bombing, had killed only six Israelis. The bomb used in that attack had been small and made of acetone peroxide, a relatively weak explosive. For the attack on bus five, Ayyash constructed a bomb using an Egyptian land mine packed with twenty kilograms of military-strength TNT, surrounded by nails and screws. TNT is not readily available in the Palestinian territories, but Hamas had managed to acquire some by smuggling it in or purchasing it from Israeli organized crime. The device "was one of the best ever built by Ayyash."

Qalqilya resident Saleh Abdel Rahim al-Souwi was selected for the attack. Al-Souwi joined Hamas after his older brother Hasin was killed in 1989, in a shootout with Israeli forces. Al-Souwi was wanted by the Israeli Shabak, but was not considered a high priority. The day before the attack, al-Souwi taped a statement saying "It is good to die as a martyr for Allah" and "Sages end up in paradise".

Attack

Muatab Mukadi, a member of Ayyash's Samaria battalion (of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades), drove al-Souwi to one of the bus's first stops. al-Souwi chose an aisle seat on the left side of the bus, and placed the bomb (stored in a brown bag) at his feet.

At approximately 9:00 AM, as the bus was slowing down for a stop 100 metres north of Dizengoff Square, al-Souwi detonated the bomb killing 21 Israelis and one Dutch national. The powerful explosion lifted the bus off its chassis and the heat melted the fiberglass bus frame. Limbs were projected like missiles into the seating area of nearby restaurants.

Following the explosion, a crowd of demonstrators descended on the bomb site chanting "Death to the Arabs". "Police arrested scores of Arab suspects in and around the blast area, though most of them were detained to save them from the crowd's anger."

Aftermath

Israeli police quickly identified al-Souwi as the perpetrator. The day after the bombing, with his identity confirmed using DNA, al-Souwi's family threw a neighborhood party celebrating his "martyrdom." That afternoon, the Israel Security Agency (ISA) destroyed the house, after giving the family one hour to remove their possessions.

References

Haberman, Clyde. (20 October 1994). "On the No. 5 Bus Line, A Thud, Then Silence". [[The New York Times]].
Haberman, Clyde. (20 October 1994). "20 Killed In Terrorist Bombing Of Bus In Tel Aviv". The New York Times.
Katz, p. 153
[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9511/rabin/timeline/mideast_timeline/index.html Death toll]
Katz, pp. 147, 150
Katz, pp. 147-148
Katz, p. 149
Katz, p. 151
Katz, p. 160

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

suicide-bombings-in-1994 1994-in-israel 1994-mass-murders islamic-terrorist-incidents-in-1994 terrorist-incidents-in-israel-in-1994 1994-murders-in-israel 1990s-in-tel-aviv october-1994-in-asia october-1994-crimes hamas-suicide-bombings-of-buses suicide-bombings-in-tel-aviv tel-aviv-in-the-israeli–palestinian-conflict massacres-in-the-israeli–palestinian-conflict

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