Suleiman Abu Ra’adan, 17, of Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, was ordered held for 10 days by a Tel Aviv magistrate today on suspicion of being the person who set off the bomb in the Carmel Market here last Thursday morning, which killed one person and injured 50.
Sixteen of the injured were still in the hospital today, two of them reported in critical condition. Funeral services were held Friday in Bat Yam for Meir Rotman, 73, who died of the injuries suffered in the blast.
Ra’adan, who worked in a vegetable store in the Carmel Market, was among 100 Arabs who were picked up shortly after the blast. All the others were released after police used chemical sniffers, which are able to detect traces of explosives on a person. Police said that Ra’aden had traces of explosive material on his hands.
POLICE FIND EVIDENCE
The youth told Magistrate Yehoshua Diamant that he was working in the vegetable store when he heard people shouting and went out to see what was happening. He said his employer called him back and as he was returning he was arrested. But the magistrate said he received two classified reports from the police which said there was prima facie evidence that Ra’aden was connected with the explosives.
Police said the bomb, which was placed beneath an underwear stand, was in a plastic bog. The bomb itself was encased in a tin can filled with a large amount of metal scraps and nails which increased the casualties and destruction caused by the explosion. By Friday morning the Carmel Market looked as if nothing had happened. However, it was more crowded than usual since many sightseers came to look at the scene of the destruction.
Meanwhile, it was learned that the Israeli reprisal attack Thursday against the Dahr el-Tutah terrorist base and training camp in Lebanon caught the terrorists by surprise. Reports from foreign sources said that at least two arms and ammunition depots exploded during the attack and the Israeli planes also managed to hit tents, barracks and the kitchen.
(In Washington, the State Department expressed “regret” over the Israeli raid. Spokesman Hodding Carter recalled Friday that the State Department had condemned the bombing in the Tel Aviv market soon after the incident occurred. Regarding the Israeli raid, he added, “We regret the cycle of violence” and “we deplore obviously any act” that brings death and injury to “innocent persons.”)
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