At least 28 persons were injured, one of them seriously, when a bomb exploded on a side street just off Ben Yehuda St. In the center of Jerusalem this evening. The explosives were attached to a parked motorbike. The blast set fire to two cars and two motorbikes nearby and shattered windows over a wide area.
The latest terrorist outrage in Jerusalem occurred shortly before 8 p.m. local time, just minutes before air raid sirens sounded to mark the beginning of Memorial Day for Israel’s war dead. Crowds were already gathering on Ben Yehuda St., off Zion Square for the observance of one minute of silence. President Ephraim Katzir was about one mile away at the Western Wall in the Old City at the time, preparing to kindle a memorial light. All places of entertainment were closed, lights were dimmed throughout the city and flags flew at half-mast.
The explosion, which was heard in distant suburbs of Jerusalem, brought security forces and ambulances to the scene within minutes. Victims were rushed to Jerusalem’s three hospitals as police cordoned off the area and sappers searched parked vehicles for other hidden bombs. At 10 p.m. the hospitals confirmed that only one person was seriously injured. Most of the other injuries were classified as “light.”
Jewish youths from the low-income Mosrara quarter bordering the Old City began pelting Arab cars with stones. Some Arab residents fled into the heart of the Old City. Others took up staves and knives, according to a radio report, and made ready to stand their ground. Police and soldiers turned back the Jewish youths before any violence erupted.
This evening’s explosion was the third bombing or bomb attempt in the capital in less than a week. Last Wednesday night, two police sappers were killed and four were injured trying to defuse a bomb concealed in a paint can on a side street near the center of the city. On Saturday night, police removed a bomb from Zion Square and detonated it safely in an unpopulated area.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
