JERUSALEM (voa) – At least seven Israelis have been killed and 20 wounded in a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Less than an hour later, a second suicide bomber launched another attack near the site of the first blast.
The first attack targeted a bus near the northern Jerusalem suburb of French Hill, during the start of the early morning rush hour Sunday. Police sealed off the area, as ambulance workers rushed the wounded to nearby hospitals.
Shortly afterwards, a second bomber blew himself up near a road junction, not far from the first attack. Israeli police said the bomber had been killed but no one else was injured in the second blast.
Following the bombings, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon canceled his planned departure to Washington to meet with President Bush at the White House. Mr. Sharon had planned to leave Sunday for the United States, just hours after holding his first summit with the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas.
Before the latest suicide bombings, the two leaders had announced they would hold a second round of talks. Their first meeting was also overshadowed by violence.
Shortly before the talks began in Jerusalem, Palestinian militants attacked two Jewish settlements in the West Bank. In the first incident, a Palestinian suicide bombing killed an Israeli couple in the Jewish enclave in the divided city of Hebron. Two Palestinian gunmen later infiltrated the Jewish settlement of Sha’arei Tikva. They were shot dead during a lengthy battle with Israeli troops.
An official in the office of Mr. Sharon says the latest attacks have shown that the Palestinian leadership must demonstrate that it is serious about fighting violence and terrorism.
