Kindgo
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JERUSALEM (AP) - Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire Thursday on a Likud Party office crowded with voters casting ballots in a leadership race and attacked passengers at a nearby bus terminal. Five Israelis were killed and dozens wounded in the attack in the northern town of Beit Shean.
AP Photo
AP Photo
Slideshow: Mideast Conflict
The gunmen were killed in a protracted firefight with police and armed bystanders. Initial witness reports said a third gunmen was holed up in a building near the Likud office, but searches did not turn up anything.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, a militia linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites)'s Fatah (news - web sites) movement, claimed responsibility.
The attack began sometime after 3 p.m., at a time when the Likud office in Beit Shean was crowded with members casting ballots in the leadership race between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web sites) and Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (news - web sites). The vote was not being called off, party officials said.
"It (the attack) began in the area of the bus terminal that is adjacent to the Likud branch," Beit Shean Mayor Pini Caballo told Israel Radio. "From there, they went to the Likud branch and saw the crowds and fired in all directions and hit many people."
"They (the attackers) fired hundreds of bullets," Caballo said.
Rafi Ben-Shetreet, a local Likud leader, said he and others were standing at the entrance to the branch office. "Suddenly we heard two loud blasts, probably grenades, and massive shooting, bursts, towards the voters. People ran away," he said. One of the attackers was killed by a security guard, Ben-Shetreet said.
Another witness, Galit Cohen, who lives near the Likud office, said she saw one of the attackers. "I opened the window and I simply saw the terrorist standing, smiling, laughing and shooting in all directions," Cohen told Israel Army Radio. "He simply shot and shot and shot and he didn't stop. People were fleeing and falling."
One of the dead gunman wore an explosives belt that did not go off.
In a phone call to The Associated Press, the Al Aqsa militia said two attackers opened fire in Beit Shean to avenge the deaths of two militia leaders in an explosion in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin earlier in the week. The militia has blamed Israel for the deaths, though Israel denied involvement.
A Palestinian Cabinet minister, Ghassan Khatib, said Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip (news - web sites) "is responsible for the continuation of the violence," and that both sides should avoid harming civilians.
"Israel is fighting a day to day battle against those who reject our very existence and want us out of Israel once and for all," said David Baker, a Sharon official
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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