A 24-year-old Arab woman from Bethlehem was fatally injured Monday when a bomb she apparently intended to plant in downtown Jerusalem’s crowded Mahaneh Yehuda market detonated prematurely while she was priming it in a public lavatory.
Police found a basket of fruit alongside the body, suggesting that the woman intended to leave the explosive near a fruit stand.
The accident averted what might have been heavy casualties among shoppers in the open market, which has been a target of terrorist attacks in the past.
Merchants and customers were alerted by a dull blast and smoke emanating from the lavatory. They found the woman still alive. But fearing she was holding a second bomb, they fled. The woman died soon after the police arrived.
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.
