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Coed suicide bomber beat tight security in Jerusalem

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, January 28, 2002

JERUSALEM Ñ For the first time, Israel has been attacked by a Palestinian woman suicide bomber.

Israeli security sources said a woman was chosen for the attack to avoid suspicion. Israeli police and security forces have maintained a heavy presence in Jerusalem and officials have proposed to add another 450 officers and construct a wall between the Arab-populated eastern and Jewish-populated western portions of the city.

The woman was identified as a student of An Najah University in the West Bank city of Nablus, Middle East Newsline reported. She blew herself up in downtown Jerusalem on Sunday in an attack that killed an Israeli man and injured more than 150. The attacker also died.

"We had information of the intention to send a woman terrorist," Israeli Deputy Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra said. "We have to pay special attention to this."

The suicide bombing was the second in three days in Israel. Nobody took credit for either bombing, but Israeli security sources said the attacks were ordered by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

Later, hundreds of Palestinians rampaged through the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Palestinians stormed a PA prison in the city, overpowered the guards and freed seven Islamic detainees from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

On Monday, a Palestinian opened fire in the Tel Aviv-suburb of Bnei Brak, wounding a police officer, a soldier and a passerby. The insurgent, believed to have stolen a car in nearby Petah Tikva, was later shot and killed by Israeli security forces.

Palestinian sources described the attacker as a known criminal and said he had not been sent to strike Israeli targets.

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