National News Middle East peace bid in turmoil after 25 killed as violence worsens

フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする

The U.S. Middle East peace bid was in turmoil June 11 after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed 16 people on a Jerusalem bus and Israeli helicopters killed nine Palestinians in strikes on militants.

Watching the "road map" peace plan engulfed in a new round of killing, U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the Jerusalem bombing and called on "all the free world ... to use every ounce of their power to prevent them."

But promises of more attacks by the militant Hamas group, which claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem blast, and a vow by Israel to track down and kill more Palestinian militants do not bode well for U.S. hopes of rekindling its peace initiative.

Sixteen people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber, disguised as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, blew himself up on a crowded bus in central Jerusalem during the afternoon rush hour.

The blast tore through the bus near the city's main open-air market, decapitating passengers and strewing the street with body parts.

Minutes later, Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car in Gaza City, killing two top Hamas militants and five bystanders. At around midnight, two more Hamas militants were killed in another helicopter missile strike.

Hamas said it sent the bomber to avenge Israel's botched attempt to assassinate Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, a co-founder of Hamas, in a missile attack in Gaza on June 10.

Israel officials said the bomber behind the bus attack was dispatched before Israel's attempt on Rantissi and that 10 suicide bombers had been arrested by Israeli security forces since a U.S.-brokered peace summit in Jordan on June 4.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat condemned both the Jerusalem bombing and the Israeli missile strike on Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, undeterred by a rare rebuke from Bush for the attempt on Rantissi, vowed to pursue militants "to the fullest extent." But he also said Israel was deeply committed to moving forward toward peace.

エルサレムで路線バス自爆テロ

中東和平のロードマップ(行程表)が始動したばかりのイスラエルで11日、パレスチナ過激派組織ハマスによる自爆テロが発生し、16人が死亡した。その後のイスラエル軍による報復攻撃でさらに9人が死亡。和平に暗雲が立ち込めている。

Shukan ST: June 20, 2003

(C) All rights reserved