Jerusalem police admitted Monday that they have no leads in their investigation of the grenade attack that injured 12 border policemen and five Arab civilians near the Old City walls Sunday afternoon. Five of the injured remained hospitalized Monday. About 70 suspects detained for questioning immediately after the attack have been released.
Unknown assailants threw the grenade at about 2 p.m. local time when two border patrols were changing shifts just outside the Jaffa Gate. Police Minister Haim Barlev said the grenade, or another explosive device, may have been hurled from a passing car. But police also are investigating the possibility that an explosive charge was planted at the site.
On Sunday, the Palestine Liberation Organization had claimed responsibility for the attack.
A bomb detonated about the same time at a soldiers’ pick-up point on the Hebron Road. There were no injuries. Life returned to normal in the Old City after the incident, except that Jews refrained from entering.
The border police unit attacked Sunday was the same one which suffered heavy losses when an Israeli military headquarters building collapsed in the Lebanese port city of Tyre five years ago. Thirty-four people were killed in that incident, which was attributed to a gas leak.
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