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Israeli shopper kills suicide attacker after bomb fizzles

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Friday, February 22, 2002

JERUSALELM Ñ An Israeli shopper shot a Palestinian suicide bomber dead during a failed attempt to blow up a crowded supermarket in a Jewish settlement near Bethlehem.

It was the second time a suicide bomber entered a Jewish settlement in less than a week. The first attempt, on Feb. 16, was successful and three people were killed.

A Palestinian laborer entered the Bethlehem-area community of Efrat on Friday and detonated explosives he was wearing in a shopping center next to a crowded supermarket. The bomb failed to fully explode and an Israeli shopper shot the bomber dead. No Israelis were injured in the attack, Middle East Newsline reported.

Witnesses said a Palestinian wearing a belt packed with explosives set off a small blast in the Efrat supermarket on Friday morning before being shot at close range by a customer.

"A young guy...went to the area of the bakery. I heard a small explosion. People started running, and the guy himself, a young guy between 20 and 30 was running toward the exit of the store," supermarket owner Eli Shiran told Reuters.

"At that point, somebody shot him. He fell on the floor, and he was trying to reach again toward his body...It seems to be he had another explosives belt on his body. "The guy, one of the clients, shot him again and the man died. Unfortunately one lady was hurt in the leg."

Israeli military sources said Palestinian insurgents have targeted Israeli troops and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The sources said the new targets are meant to arouse opposition to Israel's presence in the territories captured in the 1967 war.

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