A bomb exploded in a car between two Israeli army checkpoints outside Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing two Palestinians and wounding 16 people, in what Israel Radio said was a suicide attack. The blast, which broke a lull in such bombings, occurred after border police declared a security alert and began combing the area between the Qalandiya and A-Ram checkpoints on a main road between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah. Medics said seven Israelis and nine Palestinians were wounded in the explosion.
Israel Radio said a Palestinian in a car being checked by Israeli policemen was believed to have detonated a bomb either hidden on his person or rigged to the vehicle. But the Israeli army said it could not confirm that it was a suicide bombing. "The car exploded in front of us and our car caught fire," a relative of a dead Palestinian said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. |