Suicide Bombing in Dimona Shoping Center:
Israeli woman killed, 9 wounded

By Staff Writer
February 4, 2008

A suicide bomber exploded inside a commercial center in Dimona in southern Israel, killing an Israeli woman and wounding nine, one critically, two moderately.

The south has been on high alert since the breaching of the Gaza-Egypt border. Various Palestinian groups took credit for the bombing, saying the bombers came from Gaza.

Two bombers came together to the shopping center, but only one detonated. The other bomber did not blow himself up, but was killed by an alert police officer.

Superintendent Kobi Mor managed to shoot one of the bombers before he could detonate.

It is the first terror attack in the history of Dimona, the site of Israel's principal nuclear reactor.

Dead Suicide Bomber Identified as Fatah Member

The suicide bomber who blew himself up and killed at least one other person in Dimona Monday morning has been identified as Fatah member Mussa Arafat, a member of the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades and a resident of Khan Yunis, in central Gaza. The Fatah faction is headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who denounced the bombing along with condemning the Israeli counter terrorism operation in Jenin earlier in the day, which killed two terrorists.

"We succeeded to carry out the attack today and we take responsibility for it, along with the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades and the United Resistance Brigades, in response to the occupation and the killing of children and innocent people in the West Bank and the Strip," Al Aksa official Abu al-Walid told Hizbullah's Al-Manar television satellite network. The other two groups are associated with Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The second suicide bomber, who was shot by a police officer before he managed to set off his explosive charge, has not been named.