October 4, 2003
Photo: Emergency workers care for victims of a suicide bombing at a Haifa restaurant.
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- At least 18 people were killed in a probable suicide bombing Saturday afternoon at a crowded restaurant in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, Israeli hospital sources said.
Two top Palestinian officials condemned the attack.
Among the dead were children. More than 50 people were wounded in the blast, the sources said.
The explosion destroyed much of the popular Arab-owned Maxim restaurant, at the southern entrance to the port city on the Mediterranean.
"Right now, we're treating it in all probability as a suicide bombing," police spokesman Gil Kleiman told CNN International. Bomb squads were going through the debris to confirm that, he said. "It's a very serious terrorist attack."
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Ambulances rushed to the scene and took the wounded to hospitals.
"All of them are now in hospitals and several of them are very seriously wounded," Avi Zohar, director of the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
"It was one of the biggest mass casualty incidents in the last year. The number of dead is high, more than usual in mass casualty incidents."
Forces in Israel have been on high alert for terror attacks ahead of Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, which begins at sundown Sunday and ends at sundown Monday.
The incident comes as the country commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, in which Syria and Egypt attacked Israel.
Ahmed Qorei, the Palestinian prime minister-designee, issued a "rejection and condemnation of the ugly attack."
He called on the Palestinian people and all Palestinian factions to "practice self-restraint and to stop all attacks that target Israeli civilians."
He added that these attacks are "harmful for our just and legitimate national struggle."
Qorei also called on the Israeli government to end the suffering of the Palestinian people by stopping its policies of land confiscation and targeting of Palestinian activists and leaders.
"The Palestinian Authority condemns this attack," said Saeb Erakat, chief Palestinian negotiator.
"We urge the Americans and the (Middle East) Quartet to step up their efforts in order to ensure the implementation of the road map and to bring back the parties to the negotiation table."
The Quartet is a coalition of Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations that has worked for Mideast peace.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said "we need action" from the Palestinian Authority to rein in terrorists and said it remains to be seen whether Qorei is a "partner" for peace.
"Israel is in a continuous fight and struggle against these terrorists," Peled told CNN. But "she's basically doing the job or the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority in the first place."
"We'll continue building fences and continue taking necessary measures to defend ourselves as long as there isn't a partner on the Palestinian side."
The Israeli Security Cabinet last month called Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat an obstacle to peace and voted to "remove" him in principle, but has taken no action.
Asked about Israel's position on Arafat in light of the attack. Peled said, "It's a bit early to say."
But, he added, "If it turns out once again that Arafat was responsible and behind this, then we would have to really reconsider our position."
Sources in the prime minister's office said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been talking by telephone with security heads and ministers.
The Haifa attack was the first in almost a month, when a pair of suicide bombers killed at least 15 people.
The first blast killed eight people and wounded dozens September 9 at a bus stop outside of a military base east of Tel Aviv.
Seven people were killed a few hours later in a blast at an outdoor terrace of a popular cafe in West Jerusalem.
Correspondent Jerrold Kessel, producers Sausan Ghosheh, Bruce Conover and Michael Zippori and assignment editor Waffa Munayyer contributed to this report.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/10/04/mideast/index.html