Police and security forces were put on a special alert today to prevent a recurrence of last evening’s terrorist bombing in downtown Jerusalem that claimed the life of one person and, by latest count, injured more than 50 people. The Palestine Liberation Organization claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Security sources said they had information that the terrorists planned a series of attacks on civilians, especially in Jerusalem, on the eve of the High Holidays. Additional police and soldiers were brought into the city to patrol the streets and take other security measures.
Meanwhile, police identified the victim of the bombing on the Ben Yehuda Street shopping mall during the evening rush hour yesterday as Kami Rofeh, a 31-year-old recent immigrant from Iran. His wife Edna and their four-year-old daughter were among the injured. Rofeh first immigrated to Israel 11 years ago but lived in Iran for the past four years. He returned here only two months ago.
As of this morning, 28 persons injured in the blast were still hospitalized, six of them in serious condition. One victim, identified as David Klein, was on the critical list. Security forces continued to search Arab villages around Jerusalem for the perpetrators and several suspects have been detained.
(In New York, United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim condemned the terrorist bombing. In a statement issued today by his spokesman, Waldheim said he deplored “such acts of violence which cause loss of life and suffering to innocent civilians.”)
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