Thirty-six Jews were seriously wounded this weekend at Constantine, when a hand grenade exploded among the worshipers leaving the city’s principal synagogue after services on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. As a result, the entire Jewish population in Algeria feels insecure, fearing further attacks from the FLN, the movement of anti-French Algerian rebels.
The FLN appealed publicly to Algerian Jews several months ago for support in its “fight for independence,” warning that, if that support were not given, Algerian Jews would “suffer the consequences,” There have been sporadic bombings and tossing of hand grenades against Jewish shops here the last few months, but Thursday night’s incident at Constantine was the most severe suffered by Algerian Jewry to date.
The worshipers were leaving the Constantine synagogue. Thursday night when a terrorist, evidently hidden near the gates in front of the house of worship, lobbed the grenade. Men and women fell wounded, and panic enveloped most of the worshipers as well as Jews in their homes throughout the city. Police authorities announced that they are pressing efforts to apprehend those responsible for the outrage. Thus far, however, no one responsible has been apprehended.
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