Eight school children and three other persons were injured when bombs exploded in two Jerusalem buses this morning. The injuries were reported to be slight in all but one of the cases. Last night an Israeli naval patrol intercepted a rubber dinghy in which terrorists were attempting to land on Israel’s coast at Achziv, north of Nahariya. Two terrorists were captured and two others were drowned.
Both incidents are believed to have been related to the second anniversary today of President Anwar Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem. Quick action by alert drivers, passengers and police were credited with averting a major tragedy in Jerusalem.
One bomb exploded on a bus-on Jaffa Road near Zion Square in the heart of downtown Jerusalem. All passengers had been evacuated moments before after one of them spotted a suspicious-looking object. The driver, who remained at the wheel, maneuvered the bus out of the heavy morning rush hour traffic and was racing toward an empty lot when the blast occurred. The explosion shattered nearby windows and brought traffic to a halt. Most of the injuries occurred on the second bus which was about to enter its terminal in the eastern suburb of Kiryat Havovel when the bomb exploded.
The encounter off Israel’s coast was the first instance in three months of terrorist maritime activity. Security sources reported that the dinghy opened fire on the Dabour class Israeli patrol boat with small arms and bazookas. The fire was returned and the Zodiac-type dinghy was sunk. One of the captured terrorists was wounded. The bodies of two others were washed ashore. The dinghy was recovered by the navy. An alert was declared all along the coast.
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.
